Mixed loads at Suwung prompt a call for dedicated organic waste processing

In brief: An environmental organisation in Bali reported on 29–30 September 2026 that mixed rubbish was still arriving at Suwung landfill in Denpasar on days set aside for organic waste. It urged the city to establish a specialist treatment facility, a proposal for which no official construction decision was identified in the reporting.

The gap between sorting waste and actually processing it became visible at the landfill gate. PPLH Bali, a local environmental education organisation, described deliveries in which food and garden waste covered other rubbish lower down in the truck. Looking at the top of a load did not reliably show what was being deposited.

Organic collection days were not free of mixed rubbish

The organisation's director, Catur Yuda Hariani, raised the problem at an event on 29 September. According to reports published by Bali Post and ANTARA the following day, some independently operated collection services and community waste-processing centres were still bringing mixed loads to Suwung. Mondays and Thursdays were identified as the days on which organic waste was admitted under the transitional arrangements.

PPLH Bali pointed to inadequate separation facilities, inconsistent sorting at household level and the practical limits of checking large trucks at the entrance. Its accounts describe observed cases; they do not establish what proportion of the entire fleet was carrying improperly sorted material.

The scale of landfill traffic is considerable. Figures from Suwung's daily weighbridge records for 21–27 September, cited by ANTARA, show an average of 591 truck arrivals and approximately 1,320 tonnes of net waste per day. Neither figure indicates how much of that waste was mixed.

April's waste restrictions had already been adjusted

Indonesia's Environment Ministry said on 7 April that restrictions introduced on 1 April were intended to keep organic waste out of Suwung, leaving the site to receive residual waste. Its inspection also identified a need for stronger supervision of incoming loads.

That arrangement did not remain absolute. On 18 April, Bali's provincial government reopened limited access for organic waste on two days each week, Bali Post reported, as local processing capacity struggled during the transition. The September observations must be understood against that temporary concession: access for some organic deliveries was permitted, but the reported arrival of material mixed with other rubbish remained a problem.

The environmental concern extends beyond the immediate pressure on disposal space. When organic material decomposes in landfill conditions it can generate methane. PPLH Bali's position is that separating collection days will have limited effect if the waste is not sorted before collection and cannot be processed elsewhere.

No site or opening date has been confirmed for the proposed hub

PPLH Bali asked Denpasar's municipal government to provide at least one integrated treatment centre dedicated to organic material, known locally as a TPST. The proposal was aimed partly at communities without sufficient processing facilities of their own. The group also argued that additional local funding and reliable buyers or users of finished compost would be needed to make the wider system work.

The 30 September reports did not identify an approved site, project budget, construction start or opening date. The request therefore cannot be described as an authorised new facility. Nor did it announce a change in household collection fees or an immediate timetable for residents.

For people renting or managing homes in areas served by waste collectors using Suwung, the immediate issue is the existing service: whether separate waste streams stay separate after pickup, and where food scraps are actually taken. Residents elsewhere on Bali should not assume these specific landfill observations describe waste services across the whole island.

• Bali Post — report on mixed waste entering Suwung landfill, 30 September 2026.
• Bali Post — report on the limited reopening of organic-waste access, 18 April 2026.
• Indonesian Ministry of Environment — Suwung landfill inspection following new disposal restrictions, 7 April 2026.