Rubbish Truck Drivers Relief as Suwung Landfill Reopens After Days of Queuing

The Bali Provincial Government reopened the Suwung Final Processing Site (TPA) in Denpasar on Monday, 2 March 2026. A long line of rubbish trucks that had been queuing since Sunday, 1 March 2026, began taking turns entering the landfill facility. By Monday evening, the queue had begun to clear.

One truck driver, Agus, expressed relief at the reopening of Suwung TPA. He and other truck drivers had to wait several days to dispose of rubbish.

“Things are flowing smoothly now, at last we can get back to work after waiting for several days for news,” said the driver from Situbondo, East Java.

He transports tonnes of household waste daily from Tibubeneng Village, North Kuta, Badung. Agus felt frustrated having to wait five days on Suwung Road before the TPA reopened.

“Already five days before disposal (now). Some waited four to six days,” explained Agus.

He also had to deal with complaints from residents whose household waste had accumulated. When responding to customer complaints, Agus, having resigned himself to the situation, could only ask them to check directly with Suwung TPA to understand the difficulties on the ground.

“Yes, there were complaints, but after reopening, it’s the same as before. Twice a month (collecting waste),” he added.

Another driver, Toha (37), voiced similar sentiments. He usually collects waste from the Gunung Salak Road area starting at 04.00 Wita (Western Indonesia Time) and can only return from work at 19.00 or 21.00 Wita. Over the past week, Toha had to wait several days at Suwung TPA.

“Already several days, yes, there are residents complaining but what can we do, the situation is like this. We are also waiting here for the TPA to open, and only today it has reopened,” he said.

After the reopening, Toha expressed happiness at being able to resume normal activities. The longer the queue, the greater his expenses become. He could spend up to 200,000 rupiah on food and cigarettes around the location.

“Things are back to normal (hopefully), no queuing like this, so operations run smoothly. Like this, we spend 200,000 rupiah on food and cigarettes,” said the driver from Probolinggo, East Java.