This article was machine-drafted from the sources cited in its footnotes. It is not the official text of any law or court decision, and it is not legal advice (how articles are written).
Waste processing facilities in IndonesiaConcept
FieldSolid waste infrastructure
JurisdictionIndonesia
Principal instrumentsUU 18/2008, PP 81/2012, Permen PU 3/2013, Permen LHK 59/2016, Permen LHK 26/2020

Waste processing facilities in Indonesia are the sites through which household and similar waste passes between its source and its return to the environment, as classified by Indonesian law: the temporary collection site (tempat penampungan sementara, TPS), the reduce-reuse-recycle processing site (TPS 3R), the transfer station (stasiun peralihan antara, SPA), the integrated waste processing site (tempat pengolahan sampah terpadu, TPST) and the final processing site (tempat pemrosesan akhir, TPA). The TPS, TPST and TPA are defined in UU 18/2008, the waste management law, the TPS 3R in its implementing government regulation, and the SPA in a 2013 public works regulation.[1][2][3]

District and city governments must provide and operate TPA sites and provide TPS, TPS 3R and TPST facilities for residential areas, while managers of residential, commercial, industrial and special areas and of public and social facilities must provide collection and 3R facilities for their own areas.[4] Final processing must use controlled or sanitary landfill or other environmentally friendly technology; open dumping at final processing sites is prohibited, and open dumps were to be closed within five years of the law's entry into force.[4:1][5]

Technical standards come from the public works ministry, which regulates the planning, operation and closure of facilities, and from the environment ministry, which sets the quality standard for landfill leachate and the handling of ash from thermal treatment.[6][7][8] Presidential regulations have promoted waste-to-energy plants, and people harmed by final processing sites may be compensated by the regional government.[9][10] The subject is part of solid waste management law in Indonesia. CRPG's regulatory tracker analysed the facility hierarchy, collection standards, and leachate and ash in three posts in December 2025.[11][12][13]

Facility types

UU 18/2008 defines a TPS as the place where waste is held before it is taken to recycling, processing or an integrated site; a TPST as the place where collection, sorting, reuse, recycling, processing and final processing take place; and a TPA as the place where waste is processed and returned to the environment safely for people and the environment.[1:1] PP 81/2012 adds the TPS 3R, a site for collection, sorting, reuse and recycling at the scale of an area.[2:1] The public works regulation of 2013 adds the SPA, a facility for moving waste from small to larger vehicles that is required for districts or cities whose TPA is more than 25 kilometres away, and defines residue (residu) as waste that cannot be processed by compaction, composting, material recycling or energy recovery, and leachate (lindi) as the liquid produced when external water enters a landfill and dissolves material, including the products of biological decomposition.[3:1]

Responsibilities

Under PP 81/2012 sorting is done by every person at source, by area managers and by district governments, into at least five kinds of waste: waste containing hazardous substances, easily decomposed waste, reusable waste, recyclable waste and other waste. Area managers must provide area- scale sorting facilities, a TPS, TPS 3R or collection equipment for sorted waste, and a TPS 3R for processing; district governments provide TPS and TPS 3R in residential areas and carry waste to the TPA or TPST. A TPS or TPS 3R must be able to separate the five kinds of waste, be accessible, not pollute, and run to a collection schedule.[4:2]

District governments must provide and operate the TPA. They must choose its location in line with spatial plans, having regard to geology, hydrogeology, slope, distance from airfields and settlements, protected areas and land flooded at a 25-year return period, and equip it with basic, environmental protection, operational and supporting facilities. The TPA must be operated to the public works minister's technical requirements, failing which it must be closed or rehabilitated; waste that cannot be processed is landfilled there.[4:3] Districts may form waste management bodies, partner with businesses or communities, or cooperate with other districts, and provinces may provide transfer stations and transport for districts that process waste jointly.[14] District governments collect a progressive waste service levy, and workers who transport, process or finally process waste must hold competency certificates.[15]

Landfill methods and closure

PP 81/2012 permits final processing by controlled landfill, sanitary landfill or environmentally friendly technology.[4:4] The public works regulation defines open dumping (penimbunan terbuka) as landfilling without periodic compaction and cover; a controlled landfill as one where waste is compacted and covered with soil at least every seven days, described as an interim method before sanitary landfill can be applied; and a sanitary landfill as one prepared and operated systematically, with waste spread, compacted and covered every day.[3:2]

UU 18/2008 prohibits handling waste by open dumping at final processing sites and required regional governments to plan the closure of open-dump TPA sites within one year of the law's entry into force and to close them within five years; district governments must monitor closed open dumps every six months for twenty years.[5:1] The public works regulation lets a TPA be closed when it is full, no longer consistent with the spatial plan or operated by open dumping, or rehabilitated where it can still be used, on the basis of a risk index. The minister issues closure or rehabilitation recommendations for metropolitan and large cities and regional sites, governors for medium and small cities, and districts must act within two years of a recommendation.[16]

Planning standards

The public works ministry's rules on waste infrastructure were issued as Permen PU 3/2013 (Minister of Public Works Regulation No. 03/PRT/M/2013), signed on 14 March 2013 and promulgated on 25 March 2013 to implement PP 81/2012.[17] It covers general planning, waste handling, the provision of processing and final processing facilities, and the closure or rehabilitation of TPA sites, for household and similar waste. General planning consists of a master plan, a feasibility study, and technical and management planning; metropolitan and large cities prepare a master plan and feasibility study, while medium and small cities prepare technical and management plans. Its stated aims include effective and environmentally sound infrastructure, wider service coverage, protection of water, soil and air, climate change mitigation, and treating waste as a resource.[6:1]

Leachate and ash

Permen LHK 59/2016, signed on 12 July 2016, sets the quality standard for leachate from TPA sites. The standard may not be exceeded at any time; governors may set a stricter regional standard after a scientific study, and the official issuing an environmental approval must apply the regional standard where one exists and otherwise the ministerial standard.[7:1]

Permen LHK 26/2020, signed on 23 December 2020, governs ash from thermal waste processing, defined as processing that burns the combustible content of waste or generates energy. Operators must handle both bottom ash and fly ash. Bottom ash may be used as road base or cement raw material, or returned to the environment at a sanitary or controlled landfill; fly ash must first be treated on site, by methods such as chelation, acid extraction, solidification, melting or sintering, meet a fly-ash quality standard confirmed by an accredited laboratory, and only then be finally processed.[8:1]

Energy recovery from waste has been promoted by presidential regulations. Perpres 35/2018 sought to accelerate waste-to-electricity plants; it was revoked by Perpres 109/2025 on urban waste handling through processing waste into renewable energy, signed on 10 October 2025, whose considerations state that the 2018 regulation had not been effective.[9:1]

Compensation

People affected by final processing sites have a statutory right to protection and compensation. Under PP 81/2012, district governments may compensate for water, air and soil pollution, landslides, fires, methane explosions and other negative effects of final processing, by relocation, environmental restoration, health and medical costs, sanitation and health facilities or other forms, funded from the national and regional budgets, with the province and then the central government paying where district funds are exhausted.[18][10:1]

See also

Part of a series on Solid waste management law of Indonesia
Adipura · Extended producer responsibility in Indonesia · Hazardous waste regulation in Indonesia · Permen LH 26/2012 · Permen LHK 11/2024 · Permen LHK 26/2020 · Permen LHK 59/2016 · Permen LHK 6/2021 · Permen LHK 75/2019 · PP 22/2021 · PP 81/2012 · Perpres 83/2018 · Perpres 97/2017 · UU 18/2008 · Waste banks in Indonesia · Waste processing facilities in Indonesia
Identifiers Know ID K27
Categories Waste management in Indonesia · Environmental law of Indonesia
What links here (11)

References

  1. [P] Undang-Undang Nomor 18 Tahun 2008 tentang Pengelolaan Sampah, Pasal 1 angka 6 to 8. regulation_id UU_18_2008. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/39067/uu-no-18-tahun-2008 ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. [P] Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 81 Tahun 2012 tentang Pengelolaan Sampah Rumah Tangga dan Sampah Sejenis Sampah Rumah Tangga, Pasal 1 (definition of TPS 3R). regulation_id PP_81_2012. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/5295/pp-no-81-tahun-2012 ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. [P] Permen PU 3/2013, Pasal 1 angka 3, 14, 15, 19 to 22. regulation_id PERMENPUPR_3_2013_Persampahan. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. [P] PP 81/2012, Pasal 17 to Pasal 24 and Pasal 28. regulation_id PP_81_2012. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. [P] UU 18/2008, Pasal 9 ayat (1) huruf e, Pasal 29 ayat (1) huruf f and Pasal 44. regulation_id UU_18_2008. ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. [P] Permen PU 3/2013, Pasal 2 to Pasal 4. regulation_id PERMENPUPR_3_2013_Persampahan. ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor P.59/Menlhk/Setjen/Kum.1/7/2016 tentang Baku Mutu Lindi bagi Usaha dan/atau Kegiatan Tempat Pemrosesan Akhir Sampah, Pasal 1 to Pasal 5 and closing formula (signed 12 July 2016, promulgated 19 July 2016), Berita Negara 2016 No. 1050. regulation_id PERMENLHK_59_2016_Baku_Mutu_Lindi. ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor P.26/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/12/2020 tentang Penanganan Abu Dasar dan Abu Terbang Hasil Pengolahan Sampah Secara Termal, Pasal 1 to Pasal 9 and closing formula (signed 23 December 2020, promulgated 29 December 2020), Berita Negara 2020 No. 1638. regulation_id PERMENLHK_26_2020_Abu_Dasar_Termal. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/163449/permen-lhk-no-26-tahun-2020 ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. [P] Peraturan Presiden Nomor 109 Tahun 2025 tentang Penanganan Sampah Perkotaan melalui Pengolahan Sampah menjadi Energi Terbarukan Berbasis Teknologi Ramah Lingkungan, Menimbang huruf d, Pasal 32 (revoking Perpres 35/2018) and closing formula (signed and promulgated 10 October 2025). regulation_id PERPRES_109_2025. Peraturan Presiden Nomor 35 Tahun 2018 tentang Percepatan Pembangunan Instalasi Pengolah Sampah menjadi Energi Listrik Berbasis Teknologi Ramah Lingkungan, regulation_id PERPRES_35_2018. ↩︎ ↩︎

  10. [P] PP 81/2012, Pasal 31 and Pasal 32. regulation_id PP_81_2012. ↩︎ ↩︎

  11. [E] "From TPA to TPST: The Evolution of Indonesia's Waste Processing Facilities", CRPG regulatory tracker, crpg.id, 17 December 2025. https://crpg.id/from-tpa-to-tpst-the-evolution-of-indonesias-waste-processing-facilities/ (free sign-in required on crpg.id) The post carries a notice that it is AI-generated; it is cited for the record of the development, not for its legal content. ↩︎

  12. [E] "Leachate and Ash: Managing TPA Environmental Risks Under Indonesian Law", CRPG regulatory tracker, crpg.id, 17 December 2025. https://crpg.id/leachate-and-ash-managing-tpa-environmental-risks-under-indonesian-law/ (free sign-in required on crpg.id) The post carries a notice that it is AI-generated; it is cited for the record of the development, not for its legal content. ↩︎

  13. [E] "Technical Standards for Waste Collection Infrastructure in Indonesia", CRPG regulatory tracker, crpg.id, 17 December 2025. https://crpg.id/technical-standards-for-waste-collection-infrastructure-in-indonesia/ (free sign-in required on crpg.id) The post carries a notice that it is AI-generated; it is cited for the record of the development, not for its legal content. ↩︎

  14. [P] PP 81/2012, Pasal 20 and Pasal 26. regulation_id PP_81_2012. ↩︎

  15. [P] PP 81/2012, Pasal 29 and Pasal 30. regulation_id PP_81_2012. ↩︎

  16. [P] Permen PU 3/2013, Pasal 61 and Pasal 62. regulation_id PERMENPUPR_3_2013_Persampahan. ↩︎

  17. [P] Peraturan Menteri Pekerjaan Umum Nomor 03/PRT/M/2013 tentang Penyelenggaraan Prasarana dan Sarana Persampahan dalam Penanganan Sampah Rumah Tangga dan Sampah Sejenis Sampah Rumah Tangga, Menimbang (to implement Pasal 18 ayat (5), Pasal 24 and Pasal 25 ayat (3) of PP 81/2012) and closing formula (signed 14 March 2013, promulgated 25 March 2013), Berita Negara 2013 No. 470. regulation_id PERMENPUPR_3_2013_Persampahan. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/144707/permen-pupr-no-03prtm2013-tahun-2013 ↩︎

  18. [P] UU 18/2008, Pasal 11 ayat (1) huruf d and Pasal 25. regulation_id UU_18_2008. ↩︎