New Problems in Converting Waste to Energy

August 10, 2026 | 04:32 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A dozen workers huddled under a shabby tent pitched in the middle of the Legok Nangka Regional Waste Processing and Final Disposal Facility (TPPAS) in Nagreg, Bandung Regency, West Java, on Wednesday, August 5, 2026. In front of them, a set of drilling machines mounted on steel supports was boring 45 meters into the ground. In the distance, at least five similar drilling rigs were operating across the 20-hectare site.

The drilling was intended to test soil density. The tests were a continuation of work carried out last year, when drilling was conducted at 26 locations. The goal was to determine the ideal site for construction of a waste-to-energy (PSEL) facility at the Legok Nangka Regional TPPAS.

Not far from the testing site, a landfill designated to receive and bury residual waste had already been prepared. Covering an area roughly seven times the size of a soccer field, it took the form of a depression following the contours of the slope. The walls of the landfill had been lined with a geomembrane—a synthetic plastic barrier impermeable to water and gas. Dozens of vertical pipes had been installed at the bottom of the basin to eventually filter leachate. The pipes were connected to a wastewater treatment facility that, like the landfill, was built in 2013.

The Legok Nangka waste-to-energy project was first conceived more than 16 years ago to address waste management problems in six regencies and cities in the Greater Bandung area. But efforts to make it a reality were stalled by a range of issues, from licensing and government guarantees to certainty over the electricity purchase agreement. After a lengthy process, the Rp7.2 trillion (around US$402 million) megaproject was finally officially launched, marked by a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

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