As Bali gears itself to host the G20 Summit this November, the local administration has announced that it will shut down the biggest landfill in the province just before the inter-governmental event begins.
Bali Province’s Forestry and Environmental Affairs Agency Head I Made Teja said yesterday that the Suwung landfill, which takes in trash from Denpasar and Badung, will be closed down by the end of October.
“The landfill will be closed at the end of October because it’s already full, so [we] need to find another site and the other reason is because there is the G20 [Summit],” the official said.
He explained that the 32-hectare landfill began its operations in 1980 and accommodates 1,000 tons of trash per day.
Officials in Bali have been keen to tackle the province’s waste management problems to spruce up the island for the G20 Summit, given that the event will be attended by some of the world’s most powerful figures.
Three sites are set to replace the Suwung landfill once it retires, namely Kesiman Kertalangu Village in East Denpasar, which can accommodate 450 tons of trash per day; Padangsambian Kaja Village in West Denpasar, which can accommodate 120 tons of trash per day; and Taman Hutan Raya Ngurah Rai in South Denpasar, which can hold 450 tons of trash per day.
It remains to be seen whether or not Suwung landfill will be transformed for another use, with neither the Bali Provincial Government nor the central government having announced future plans for the site.
