Enviro News Asia, Jakarta – The Ministry of Environment (KLH)/Environmental Control Agency (BPLH) has launched the “1 RW 1 Waste Bank” program as a national strategic initiative. This program aims to optimize waste management through community empowerment.
“We are targeting the establishment of 83,451 new waste banks within four years (2025-2029),” said Minister of Environment/Head of BPLH, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, in a written statement on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
The “1 RW 1 Waste Bank” program is an implementation of Minister of Environment Regulation No. 13 of 2012 on Guidelines for Implementing Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle through Waste Banks. This program is designed with a participatory development approach.
“The program aims to optimize community-level waste management through public empowerment,” Hanif stated.
He explained that the program is also a concrete implementation of the KLH Strategic Plan 2020-2024, which promotes waste segregation at the source. Waste is categorized into five types: organic waste, paper waste, plastic waste, metal waste, and hazardous household waste.
Hanif hopes this initiative will create economic value from waste through resource recovery, using the reduce-reuse-recycle-recovery (4R) approach. The 4R method aligns with the waste management hierarchy outlined in Government Regulation No. 81 of 2012 on Household Waste Management and Similar Waste.
Data compiled by the National Waste Bank Information System (SIBSN) shows that as of February 2025, there are 371 central waste banks and 24,893 unit waste banks. The total number of active waste bank customers has reached 892,456 people across 447 regencies/cities.
The volume of waste managed through the waste bank network reaches 3,245 tons per year, with the following composition: 45.3% plastic waste, 29.7% paper waste, 13.2% metal waste, 8.1% glass waste, and 3.7% other waste. The total economic value generated through the waste bank system amounts to IDR 5.73 billion per year, providing additional monthly income of IDR 175,000 to IDR 350,000 for waste bank managers at the RW level.
Through the national implementation of the “1 RW 1 Waste Bank” program, the government projects an increase in managed waste volume to 15,750 tons per year, representing a 485% growth. Additionally, the total economic value is expected to rise to IDR 27.8 billion per year by 2029, also reflecting a 485% increase.
