Waste Landslide at Bantargebang: Environmental Minister Criticises Jakarta Provincial Government

Jakarta — Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq has described Bantargebang as the tip of an iceberg resulting from the failure of Jakarta’s waste management system, which currently handles a critical burden of 80 million tonnes of waste accumulated over 37 years.

“We must resolve the root cause of Jakarta’s waste problem so there are no more victims,” the Environment Minister stated after inspecting the landslide site at Bantargebang Waste Treatment and Final Disposal Site (TPST) on Monday.

A 50-metre-high waste pile collapsed in Zone IV of TPST Bantargebang on Sunday, 8 March at 14:30 West Indonesian Time, killing four people and serving as concrete evidence of systematic waste management failures in Jakarta that can no longer be tolerated.

The four victims identified so far are Enda Widayanti (25), Sumini (60), Dedi Sutrisno (22), and Iwan Supriyatin (40).

Minister Hanif stressed that this deadly tragedy is a wake-up call for the Jakarta Provincial Government to immediately cease managing waste through the open dumping method, which continues to threaten the lives of residents and workers.

His office has also launched a comprehensive investigation and strict law enforcement to ensure that the capital’s protracted waste problem does not claim more lives.

He emphasised that the use of open dumping methods at this location violates Law Number 18 of 2008 because the existing system is no longer able to mitigate safety risks for residents.

The conditions not complying with regulatory requirements not only threaten public safety due to the potential for further landslides but also constitute a source of massive environmental contamination.

“This incident should not have happened if waste management had been conducted in accordance with regulations. Bantargebang TPST should be a lesson for all of us to reform immediately for the safety of human lives and environmental preservation,” he stated.

Bantargebang TPST has a dark history of deadly incidents, ranging from residential landslides in 2003 to the collapse of Zone 3 in 2006, which claimed lives and buried dozens of waste pickers. This pattern of systematic failure continued into January 2026 when a foundation gave way, dragging three waste trucks into a river, followed by another waste pile collapse in March 2026. This series of repeated incidents proves the existence of fatal risks caused by overloading at Bantargebang TPST.