It’s official: Bali’s Suwung TPA will close for the final time on 23rd December 2025.
Despite a series of proposed closures over the last five years, this time the Bali Provincial Government is committed to ensuring that Bali’s biggest open landfill stays closed for good.
This time around, the closure notices for Suwung TPA, which is located in South Denpasar, just a stone’s throw away from top tourism resorts like Sanur and Nusa Dua, have been made water-tight.
Bali Governor Wayan Koster has issued a notification letter number T.00.600.4.15/60957/Setda, regarding the notification of the deadline for closing the Suwung Final Disposal Site (TPA) on December 23, 2025.
This letter was addressed to the Mayor of Denpasar, I Gusti Ngurah Jaya Negara, and the Regent of Badung, I Wayan Adi Arnawa, who is not obliged to honour the orders.
The letter explained, “The Suwung landfill must be closed no later than December 23, 2025. The Denpasar City Government and Badung Regency Government are prohibited from bringing waste to the Suwung landfill.”
Suwung TPA is Bali’s biggest open landfill and receives over 1000 tonnes of waste every day. The site has been in operation since 1984, and the waste pile currently sits at 10 storeys high, spanning over 32 hectares. Back in August the site officially stopped receiving organic waste.
Despite efforts to close the site down multiple times, waste has continued to be dumped on a daily basis. There have been efforts to shift waste to other processing facilities, including what are referred to as modern waste disposal systems (TEBA), TPS3R (Recycling and Recycling), TPST (Recycling and Recycling), shredding and decomposer machines, and source-based waste management systems.
However, there are concerns that the landfill sites may still end up receiving waste. Although the waste must be funnelled to alternative processing facilities, residual waste will still be permitted to be dumped in Suwung TPA. As confirmed by the Head of the Bali Forestry and Environment Agency, Made Rentin, to reporters, “The final landfill at Suwung TPA can only accept residue, and once again it can only accept residue.”
He added, “The movement in Badung is massively optimising the TPS3R with Recycling Centres, including optimising several Integrated Waste Processing Facilities, strengthening and implementing eight existing incinerators in Mengwitani and prepping to bring in ten new machines that received permits from the Ministry of Environment.”
He called for local residents and businesses to step up and play a greater role in managing waste at a local level.
Rentin explained, “We see that the success of source-based waste management has not been significantly implemented at the lowest level, namely villages, sub-districts, and traditional villages.”
“Therefore, this is the momentum for us to encourage all components, including communities in traditional villages, to work together to optimise waste management at the source.”
However, as both Rentin and Governor Koster call for local leaders and communities to play a more active role in tackling the island’s waste problem, the urgency to close Suwung TPA was prompted by a visit from the Indonesian Minister for Environment, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, back in October.
Minister Nurofiq cited tourism businesses as being among the top contributors to the waste landing at Suwung TPA. He told reporters, “Based on Law Number 18 of 2008, area owners are asked to finish their own garbage. Garbage is not allowed to come out except for residues that are charged to the local government, in this case, Mr. Governor and Mayor.”
Adding “We tried to check the condition at the Suwung landfill, and it turned out that the amount of waste reached 1,800 tons/day based on the incoming trucks. So, where does this garbage come from if the population is only 1.1 million people served by the Suwung TPA?”
His calls for tourism business owners to process their own waste drew mixed feedback from tourism stakeholders in Bali, including the Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association for Bali, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati.
He noted that many tourism businesses are already doing their part to reduce waste and dispose of it responsibly. Sukawati explained that to address the waste we generate, we use partners like the TPPS3R (Recycling Agency) to collect waste from our premises and process it. This process is then outside the hotel’s jurisdiction. We also collaborate with other parties to collect leftover food waste.”
Sukawati suggested that the Indonesian Environmental Minister was going after the wrong culprits; he was clear that PHRI members, especially those who hold four and five-star status, are not the businesses that should be targeted by government warnings.
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