By: Arif Sumantri*)
The momentum of the City Sanitation Summit in Ternate on August 29–30, 2025, has awakened a collective awareness that sustainable sanitation can no longer be postponed. The district heads (Regents) and city mayors, through the commitments they have expressed, have lit a candle of hope. The challenge now is to ensure that this candle does not extinguish, but rather grows into a bright light illuminating every district and city across Indonesia.
The synergy between AKKOPSI (the Alliance of Districts and Cities Concerned with Sanitation) and HAKLI (the Indonesian Association of Environmental Health Experts) is akin to two pillars upholding the great house of national sanitation. At the same time, village and urban cooperatives such as Merah Putih and the SPPG (Nutrition Service Units) serve as upstream reinforcements, carrying the spirit of the people so that sustainable development does not lose its integrity.
When waste is managed wisely, when community participation flourishes, and when science is integrated into policy, we are in fact writing a new chapter in Indonesia’s development—one that aligns with the vision of President Joko Widodo’s successor, President Prabowo Subianto: to build a healthy nation, sovereign in food security, and dignified in the eyes of the world.
More importantly, this synergy forms the foundation for addressing urgent issues: safe sanitation, food security, and nutritional adequacy. It is not an exaggeration to call this the chain link of national health, for poor sanitation directly affects food quality, nutritional resilience, and even the productivity of the younger generation.
A pressing question often arises: who ensures that these commitments remain alive within society? The answer is: the participation of all stakeholders. The people must be subjects—not merely objects—of development. Through the Merah Putih village/urban cooperatives and the Nutrition Service Units (SPPG), we see tangible models of community involvement in waste management, recycling, and transforming waste into new resources within a circular economy.
As mandated in Presidential Regulation No. 97 of 2017 on National Policy and Strategy for Household Waste Management, the post-City Sanitation Summit (CSS) commitments of regional leaders are directed toward the national targets: a 30% reduction in waste generation and 70% proper waste handling by 2025. According to data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Indonesia generated around 68 million tons of waste annually in 2023, of which over 37% still ended up in landfills untreated—exacerbating environmental burdens. This fact underscores that the commitments made by Regents and Mayors in Ternate were not merely ceremonial, but rather an urgent response to the pressing need for sanitation and waste management solutions.
Given the scale of 68 million tons of annual waste, Indonesia has no choice but to move toward integrated waste management based on a circular economy. Evidence shows that if managed properly, waste can become a source of energy, food, and welfare. Waste is also a mirror of environmental injustice: impoverished areas often become the “dumping grounds” for major cities. A 2021 World Bank study found that 40% of plastic waste in Southeast Asia ends up in open waters, with Indonesia being the second-largest contributor after China. Meanwhile, Bappenas data shows that health costs from environmental pollution reach 1.2% of GDP annually, mainly from acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, and heavy metal poisoning.
The waste crisis is not only an environmental issue, but also an economic and public health challenge. Every single-use plastic bag discarded irresponsibly becomes a time bomb, returning to us through contaminated water, air, or seafood laden with microplastics.
The Potential of Organic Waste: Approximately 60–65% of national waste is organic, primarily from households and traditional markets. If processed into compost, it could yield up to 20 million tons of organic fertilizer annually—sufficient to support sustainable agriculture and the President’s food security programs.
The reality of waste is visible before our very eyes: city streets littered with single-use plastics, rivers blackened by sewage, and the stench of landfills piled up for decades. This is the daily face of our environment when sanitation and waste management are neglected. The waste crisis is not merely about statistical figures—it is about the contamination of our living spaces.
The Potential of Plastic Waste: Around 16–17% of total waste is plastic. Indonesia produces approximately 7.8 million tons of plastic waste annually, with 3.2 million tons potentially polluting the oceans if left unmanaged. Through cooperative-based waste banks, the economic value of recycled plastics is estimated at IDR 15–20 trillion per year.
The key principle of a circular economy is participation. Citizens must not remain passive consumers of policies, but become active agents of change. Here, the Merah Putih cooperatives play a vital role: organizing communities to separate and process waste, serving as people’s economic institutions that channel recycled materials to markets, and strengthening social solidarity through the spirit of cooperation and mutual aid.
Socio-economic benefits: Field studies in several cities show that cooperatives managing waste can raise additional household incomes by IDR 300,000–500,000 per month. Cooperatives thus become the backbone of circular economy: connecting households with recycling industries while simultaneously strengthening community social capital.
Meanwhile, SPPG (Nutrition Service Units) affirm the close link between sanitation and nutrition. Organic waste processed into compost can be used for urban farming of healthy vegetables, enhancing household food security. This proves that sanitation and nutrition are not separate agendas, but two sides of the same coin. Compost-based urban farming initiatives through SPPG have demonstrated the capacity to add 10–15 kg of local vegetable supply per household per month. This contribution directly supports the national stunting reduction program, targeting a stunting rate of 14% by 2024.
Nevertheless, the pathway to a circular economy is not without obstacles. Key challenges include: fragmented regulations across sectors requiring policy harmonization; financing, as waste management is often seen as a cost center rather than a potential profit center; and community behavior, with some still viewing waste as solely a government responsibility rather than a shared duty.
Addressing these challenges requires cross-sectoral strategies: the government as regulator; HAKLI as the steward ensuring sustainability of Environmental Sanitation professionals in providing advocacy and supervision for SPPG and community-based waste generators; AKKOPSI as policy drivers at the regional level; and the community as the primary actors. This synergy will accelerate the paradigm shift from “dispose” to “process and reuse.”
The commitments of regional leaders forged in Ternate now serve as a small light spreading across the archipelago. Each district and city that advances is writing a new chapter in Indonesia’s development—a chapter on self-reliance, awareness, and love for the earth. Sustainable sanitation must not be understood merely as “cleaning the environment,” but placed within the framework of a circular economy.
Together with AKKOPSI, HAKLI, Merah Putih cooperatives, and SPPG, Indonesia is weaving a future that is clean, healthy, and just—a symphony of sustainable sanitation driven by care for the nation and humanity. Because sanitation is not merely about cleanliness; it is a reflection of civilization, a foundation of resilience, and the lifeblood of a nation aspiring toward a Healthy Indonesia through a Golden Generation.
*) “Professor of Environmental Health, UIN Jakarta / Chairman of the National Board of HAKLI (Indonesian Association of Environmental Health Experts) / Chairman of the Expert Committee on Environmental Health Issues, Ministry of Health.”
