Prabowo Pushes to Accelerate Waste Management into Energy
President Prabowo Subianto has instructed the ministers of the Merah Putih Cabinet to accelerate the implementation of waste management in the regions. This step is part of the waste-to-energy programme, or processing waste into energy, which is being carried out by the Danantara Investment Management Agency.
Prabowo held a meeting in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, to discuss the policy on Wednesday, 25 March 2026. The meeting was attended by the Head of Danantara and Minister of Investment, Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, and several other Merah Putih Cabinet ministers.
“Danantara Head Mr Rosan Roeslani reported on the progress of the Waste to Energy (WTE) programme, or the waste-to-energy management programme, across Indonesia, particularly in major and densely populated cities such as DKI Jakarta, Tangerang, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, Bali, and other cities in Indonesia,” said Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya in a written statement.
President Prabowo, according to Teddy, wants waste at the regional level to be handled promptly by the central government. “President Prabowo wants the Central Government to immediately manage the waste that has long been poorly handled in the regions to be cleaned up, eliminated, and utilised to become energy, especially electricity,” Teddy stated.
President Prabowo had previously promoted waste-to-energy projects or processing waste into an energy source. Prabowo stated that Indonesia would start around 24 waste-to-energy projects in 2026.
He conveyed this plan at the inauguration of the Pertamina Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) project in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. He emphasised that the waste processing programme is important.
“Now we need to clean up waste from our cities. The waste has accumulated extraordinarily. This is about to become a disaster,” said Prabowo, broadcast via the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Monday, 12 January 2026.
Prabowo said that for over a decade, Indonesia has not succeeded in realising good waste management projects. “Now we will start 34 projects. The tenders will be opened perhaps in the coming days,” he said.
He also stated that this project cannot be realised immediately. “It will take two years for it to function,” he remarked.