Ministry of Tourism urges hotel operators to improve waste management

Jakarta — The Ministry of Tourism has urged hotel operators to improve waste and effluent management as part of enhancing sustainable tourism practices. ‘We have a push programme from the Minister to oversee, particularly in the management of waste and effluent in 5-star, 4-star and 3-star hotels,’ said Rizki Handayani Mustafa, Acting Deputy for Industry and Investment at the Ministry of Tourism. After attending the National Tourism Coordination Meeting 2026 in Jakarta on Wednesday, Rizki said the Ministry was listing hotels that already have waste management systems. The Ministry of Tourism, together with the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), is encouraging hotel operators to carry out waste segregation by type. The issue, according to Rizki, is that some hotel operators delegate waste and effluent management to third parties. ‘In some regulations it is still not synchronised; once it reaches a third party, the hotel may feel it has relinquished its responsibility, because it has been managed, or the final residue is handled by the local government, yet the hotel is still billed,’ he said. ‘We want to sit down together to discuss how the model should work, whereby industry players enter the destination and continue to the landfill managed by the local government,’ he said. Rizki said the government, together with tourism industry players, plans to run a pilot project for waste management in several tourist destinations. The Ministry of Tourism also discussed waste management efforts in the tourism sector with the Ministry of Environment.