Bali’s long-running rubbish problem has a new government-reported milestone: officials say 80–90% of waste in Denpasar and Badung is now being sorted, and the amount reaching the island’s biggest landfill is falling.
01 What Bali’s government is claiming
At the Environmental and Social Innovation Award (ENSIA) 2026 ceremony at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Badung, on Thursday 10 September, Governor Wayan Koster said the province’s waste-management push was showing positive results.
The official Bali Provincial Government report, published the following day, says that for Denpasar and Badung specifically, waste sorting has reached 80 to 90%. Koster said this was having a direct effect on the volume of waste burdening TPA Suwung.
The same figure was reported separately by Indonesia’s ANTARA news agency, which quoted Koster’s statement and described it as part of the province’s broader environmental programme.
02 Why Denpasar and Badung matter so much
Denpasar and Badung are not fringe test areas. Together they cover the capital and a huge share of southern Bali’s dense residential, commercial and tourism activity. That means better sorting in these two jurisdictions can have an outsized effect on what is transported to Suwung.
For residents, the practical issue is collection and neighbourhood cleanliness. For hotels, restaurants, villas, shops and other businesses, it is also an operational issue: mixed rubbish increasingly clashes with Bali’s source-separation policy, while organics and recyclable material are meant to be diverted before residual waste reaches the final disposal system.
03 This follows months of tougher sorting rules
The September claim did not come out of nowhere. Bali has been tightening its waste rules through 2026. In June, the Ministry of Environment and Bali Provincial Government announced a 100% Waste Sorting Movement, describing Bali as a national pilot for full waste segregation and setting 1 July as the point from which households, villages, markets, hotels and offices were expected to sort waste at source.
That June announcement also followed an earlier restriction on organic waste entering TPA Suwung from April. At the time, national officials said the policy had already reduced the amount of waste being sent from Denpasar and Badung and highlighted the rollout of composting infrastructure.
The new 80–90% figure therefore matters as a later checkpoint in the same policy drive — but it is still a figure reported by government, rather than a dataset that Totally Bali can independently reproduce.
04 What is happening at TPA Suwung?
TPA Suwung has for years been the most visible symbol of Bali’s waste problem. It serves the Denpasar–Badung urban area and has been central to repeated debates about landfill capacity, open dumping, organic waste and alternative processing systems.
Koster’s latest statement is deliberately narrower than some earlier political language around “closing” Suwung. The September provincial report says the burden on TPA Suwung is declining as more waste is sorted at source. It does not provide a new daily tonnage in the ENSIA statement, and we are not treating “lower burden” as proof that every operational problem at the site has been solved.
That distinction matters. A high sorting rate can reduce the amount and type of material arriving at a landfill, but the real-world outcome still depends on collection, composting, recycling, residual processing, enforcement and what happens to material after households or businesses separate it.
05 What residents and businesses should do
The policy direction is clear even if the newest percentage still needs more methodological detail: sort waste at the source rather than treating collection as one mixed stream.
- Separate organic waste. Food scraps and other compostable material are the stream Bali has been pushing hardest to keep out of final disposal.
- Keep recyclables separate and reasonably clean. Contaminated recycling can simply become residual waste again.
- Follow local banjar, village or collection-provider rules. Collection arrangements vary, and the province-wide policy is implemented through local systems.
- Businesses should treat sorting as an operating requirement. Hotels, restaurants, cafés and villas generate large volumes and are part of the policy target.
- Do not assume “sorted” means “problem solved”. Ask where each stream goes if your building, business or accommodation uses a private collector.
06 What this means for travellers
Most visitors will not notice a dramatic day-to-day change because of a government sorting statistic. The more useful takeaway is that rubbish handling in Bali is becoming more structured, and accommodation or venues may ask guests to separate waste into different bins.
If your hotel, villa or homestay provides separate bins, use them as intended. Avoid putting food waste into recycling, and do not leave rubbish beside roads, beaches or overflowing public bins. For long-stay visitors and digital nomads, it is worth asking a landlord or housekeeper how collection works locally rather than assuming all bags can be mixed.
The story also matters to travellers indirectly. Cleaner neighbourhoods, less landfill pressure and more reliable waste collection affect beaches, roadsides, waterways and the overall quality of the destination — all of which feed straight back into Bali’s tourism economy.
07 The 80–90% figure needs a caveat
Totally Bali has not found a published methodology in the 11 September provincial statement explaining exactly how the 80–90% rate was calculated. The report does not specify whether the measure is based on households, collection volume, sampled neighbourhoods, participating facilities or another denominator.
That does not mean the figure is false. It means the responsible wording is: the Bali Provincial Government says sorting in Denpasar and Badung has reached 80–90%. We will update this page if the province, Denpasar, Badung or the Environment Ministry publishes a detailed dataset or revised rate.
There is also context worth remembering. Earlier official reporting in 2026 used lower percentages at different points in the rollout. A rising rate is plausible as rules and infrastructure expand, but direct comparisons are difficult unless the measurement method is consistent.
08 Government is also putting pressure on producers
The ENSIA statement did not focus only on households. Environment Minister Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat said government is also pushing businesses to take more responsibility for the waste they generate, including packaging-heavy consumer products.
That is an important part of the next phase. Bali cannot realistically sort its way out of every waste problem if the total amount of difficult-to-recycle packaging continues to rise. Source separation helps, but producer responsibility, reuse, composting, recycling markets and residual treatment still have to work together.
09 What to watch next
The next useful test is not another headline percentage. It is whether the reported improvement produces durable changes that residents can see: fewer mixed-waste loads, reliable collection, less roadside dumping and burning, better organic processing, cleaner waterways and a sustained reduction in residual waste reaching Suwung.
For people living in Denpasar and Badung, local implementation will matter more than the island-wide slogan. Keep an eye on instructions from your village, banjar, municipality or collector. For visitors, use the system your accommodation provides and remember that small daily habits multiply across millions of arrivals.
For other environmental and local-service developments, follow our Totally Bali News desk. If you are planning a longer stay, our Denpasar guide and South Bali guide provide local context.
