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Resty Woro Yuniar

The waste woes of tourism hotspot Bali have come under intense scrutiny after Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shamed island authorities for what he said were improper steps to tackle the problem.
But even as Balinese officials scramble to clean up their beaches, experts point to structural problems endemic to the issue, such as overtourism, lack of enforcement and insufficient education among locals.
Prabowo publicly dressed down Bali’s governor, Wayan Koster, and his regents earlier this week, saying he received complaints from foreign dignitaries about the state of cleanliness in the country’s holiday jewel, which welcomed 6.9 million foreign tourists last year, up from 6.3 million in 2024.
“In South Korea, I met prominent figures – ministers, generals and sometimes soldiers – and they didn’t mince words,” the president said on Monday in a speech to regional officials, quoting his contacts as saying “Bali is so dirty now, Bali isn’t nice”.
“I accepted that as a [criticism],” Prabowo said, displaying photos of the destination’s beaches covered in trash in December. “Indonesia is beautiful, tourists want to come, but they see the slums. They want to go to Bali, but Bali’s beaches are dirty. How can tourists come there if they see the trash?”

He deemed Koster as “slow” in responding to the waste issue, even with the full authority to mobilise the island’s 4.5 million people to conduct clean-up operations. Prabowo threatened to deploy the military for regular clean-ups if Balinese officials were not up to the task, declaring a “war” on waste.
Koster had blamed external sources for waste washed up on Bali’s coasts, including the famous Kuta Beach, saying they were “from outside Bali that were carried out by the strong currents during the rainy season, especially at the end of December, January and the beginning of February”.
Koster vowed to establish a task force and routinely mobilise the community for clean-ups. Days after Prabowo’s warning, the Balinese police, military, and environmental agency personnel worked together to clean several beaches across the island, such as Kuta and Kedonganan.
Structural problem
Waste experts in Bali blamed the issue on various factors, including weak law enforcement, lack of waste management education and overtourism.
In 2018, the Bali government banned single-use plastics, becoming the first region in Indonesia to do so. Last year it prohibited the production, distribution and sales of single-use plastic water bottles smaller than one litre as part of Koster’s ambition to make the island waste-free by 2027.
The public has also been mandated to segregate waste at the source, whether in people’s houses, government offices, private businesses or places of worship.
However, such regulations have not been enforced, according to Ni Luh Kartini, a professor of agriculture at Udayana University in Denpasar.
“There are several [manufacturers] of beverages under one litre who asked for time, so the regulation can’t be implemented immediately. They are still trying to finish their stock. They actually agreed with the ban, so they were given one year [to adapt],” Ni Luh, who is a member of Koster’s Waste Management Acceleration Working Group Team, told This Week in Asia.

Bali generates around 3,436 tonnes of waste each day, according to local government data.
“In Bali, organic waste contributes to 65 per cent [of total waste]. If organic waste can be managed at the source and be transformed into organic fertiliser … we have to only manage the rest of the waste, which is plastic and residual waste, or the waste that cannot be processed,” she said.
In Bali, waste from populated areas of Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan is the responsibility of the provincial government, and collectively ends up in the Suwung landfill. According to Ni Luh, the landfill is “1,000 per cent overloaded” as the mountain of rubbish has reached up to 42 metres high.
Agus Norman Saksono, founder of non-profit Bersih-Bersih Bali that routinely organises community clean-ups, said many Balinese had sorted waste at home, only for it to be mixed again by garbage collectors. The waste then ends up in landfills.
“In Bali, there’s a misconception about landfills; people think they’re final disposal sites, when in fact, they’re final processing sites. This is a structural error,” he said.
“Garbage collectors should be required to separate waste collection. They can, for example, set up specific days for collections of organic and inorganic waste. This way, people become accustomed to it.”
Agus also blamed growing numbers of tourists as a contributing factor to the waste crisis, as “the more tourist destinations there are, the more rubbish there is”.

I Ketut Gede Dharma Putra, chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Udayana University, said local officials should fund and develop reduce-reuse-recycle waste-processing facilities at the subdistrict level.
“There’s still a stigma in society about subdistrict waste-processing facilities. Residents living near the planned facilities would reject them because there were no examples of good waste facility management. The government must be involved in educating the public,” Dharma Putra said.
In December, the Bali government launched trials for four new incinerators, which costs 4.8 billion rupiah (US$284,800) each. In total, the incinerators could process up to 60 tonnes of residual waste per day.
Despite the promising technology, concerns remained about the potential release of harmful emissions from waste burning, Ni Luh said.
“I really want to solve the problem without causing any problems. If the waste is burned in an incinerator, some of the plastic material and the ash would remain, and they are hazardous and toxic.”


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Waste materials lie on Kuta Beach on Bali island on January 23. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has said he received complaints from foreign dignitaries about the state of cleanliness in Bali. Photo: EPA

Waste materials on Kuta Beach on Bali island on January 23. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has threatened to deploy the military for clean-ups if Balinese officials are not up to the task. Photo: EPA

People clean up waste materials on Kedonganan Beach in Bali on January 29. The island’s governor has blamed external sources for waste washed up on Bali’s coasts. Photo: EPA

Waste materials on Kuta Beach on Bali island in January. Observers have called for stronger waste management enforcement and education. Photo: EPA

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Experts point to structural problems endemic to the issue, such as overtourism, lack of enforcement and insufficient education among locals


Experts point to structural problems endemic to the issue, such as overtourism, lack of enforcement and insufficient education among locals.


Bali’s waste woes under scrutiny as Prabowo slams Indonesian officials’ ‘slow’ response

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Experts point to structural problems endemic to the issue, such as overtourism, lack of enforcement and insufficient education among locals

Experts point to structural problems endemic to the issue, such as overtourism, lack of enforcement and insufficient education among locals