Central Government Orders Bali To Clean Up Trash In Top Tourism Destinations

Share The Article

Indonesia’s Vice President, Gibran Rakabuming, has issued Bali strict orders to tackle ongoing waste management issues.

Following a meeting between the Central Government and the Bali Provincial Government last week, waste management has come under scrutiny again.

Sustainability has been one of the biggest focal points Bali has working on for more than a decade. The traditional way of life had been inherently sustainable, regenerative even, for centuries, but in the last sixty years, with the advent of tourism and modernisation on the island, many traditional sustainable practices have been let go.

This, coupled with the more than 7 million tourists who visit the island each year, as well as a growing local population, has led to bottlenecks in infrastructural development, most noticeably in the areas of waste management and the island’s transportation network. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gibran Rakabuming (@gibran_rakabuming)

Since November, which marked the beginning of the rainy season, Bali’s southern beaches have been hit with a deluge of ocean debris.

This has ranged from organic material to plastic trash, and while Badung Regency Government and the Bali Provincial Government have put measures in place to tackle the issue, the situation persists, threatening the public image of Bali as a world-class tourism destination, the quality of life of local people, and the environment. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sungai Watch (@sungaiwatch)

The worst-affected areas are the same every year, and with the situation worsening year on year, it is evident that drastic and long-lasting changes must be made. The Bali Provincial Government is now under pressure from the Central Government to tackle the issue once and for all.

During a meeting between Indonesia’s Vice President, Gibran Rakabuming, the Indonesian Tourism Minister Widiyanti Wardhana, the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, and other key stakeholders, the provincial leader was urged to do better, and that the Central Government is tackling waste management seriously as a national issue. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sungai Watch (@sungaiwatch)

Vice President Rakabuming told Governor Koster, “I urge you, Mr. Governor, to ensure proper upstream and downstream management. Therefore, the habit of sorting waste at home needs to be encouraged.” The prevailing narrative is that Bali’s issues with waste management are driven by the tourism sector, but that isn’t strictly true.

While the tourism sector certainly contributes plenty of waste, household waste, and waste from other business sectors are also rarely sorted and processed in sustainable ways.

Least not at the scale the issue requires. There are recycling facilities throughout Bali, and NGOs like Sungai Watch have even created private facilities, but still, the island’s biggest open landfill, the Suwung TPA, cannot be closed. 

Suwung TPA has been set to close for years now; the last closure notice was set for 23rd December 2025, though this was extended after protests from waste collectors who were fearful that there were insufficient alternatives for the volume of waste that would quickly accumulate.

Currently standing over 10 storeys high and sprawling over 32 hectares, Suwung TPA receives more than 1,000 tonnes of trash every day. The site technically stopped receiving organic waste as of August 2025; however, it is unclear how much mixed waste has still been permitted to be dumped at the site. 

Governor Koster gave the site an operational extension until 28th February 2026, but with that date just days away, it’s unclear what the next steps will be. Governor Koster explained in December that  “The Mayor of Denpasar and Regent of Badung are committed to ensuring that the closure of the Suwung Landfill must be carried out no later than February 28th, 2025. After that, they will not request a postponement or extension of the closure period. They will also ensure that no waste will be dumped at the Suwung Landfill by March 1st, 2026.”

During last week’s meeting, Governor Koster confirmed that the new Beach Waste Management Task Force would be deployed, alongside more than 300 staff from the Badung Environment and Sanitation Agency. 

Vice President Rakabuming concluded, “It is very important to protect the Bali we love.” He suggested that Bali will remain under pressure from the central government to tackle the issue from both an environmental and tourism perspective. “The first quarter of 2026 is crucial. Before there was the long Christmas and New Year holiday, now there is the Chinese New Year holiday, and then there is the Eid al-Fitr holiday. This is crucial. This momentum must be maintained, after that the school holidays will begin in June and July.”

Tourists traveling to Bali must be aware that for the remainder of the rainy season, until early April, there is a risk of tides of plastic trash washing up on Kedonganan Beach, Jimbaran Beach, Kuta Beach, Legian Beach, and Seminyak Beach. While teams work around the clock to clear up the tides of trash, sometimes tourists do encounter the waste. Destinations around the other side of the coast, like Sanur and Nusa Dua, tend not to be affected.