Why Indonesia’s waste-to-energy goal may not be ‘quick fix’ for landfill crisis

Indonesia’s appointment of two Chinese companies to run waste-to-energy (WtE) projects in two cities, an initiative of President Prabowo Subianto to reduce mounting rubbish in landfills while providing energy, has sparked a debate over costs, efficiency and whether its waste-reduction efforts are on track.Danantara, the Indonesian state wealth fund, on Friday announced that it had chosen Wangneng Environment as the operator of a WtE plant in the city of Bekasi, while Zhejiang Weiming Environment Protection would operate a similar facility in Denpasar, the capital of Bali province.“Today’s announcement marks an important step in ensuring waste-to-energy facilities are managed to the highest standards of operational reliability, safety and accountability,” Pandu Sjahrir, chief investment officer in Danantara, said in a statement.The two companies were selected after more than 200 foreign companies put in their bid, of which 24 made the shortlist in December, including companies from China, Japan and France.In October, Pandu said that Indonesia’s WtE incineration process would be modelled after China, whose WtE plants helped it tackle a surge in waste generation in 2007-2008.China currently has more than 1,000 incineration plants, processing more than 1.1 million tonnes of waste daily.