Editorial
The country's recurring landfill disasters demand that we stop fighting fire with fire downstream and finally extinguish the waste crisis at its household source.
A firefighter battles a blaze at the Jatiwaringin landfill in Tangerang regency, Banten, on July 4, 2026. (JP/Iqro Rinaldi)
Waste management has once again captured national headlines. Following recent crises where garbage piled up along many city streets, a more hazardous threat has emerged: landfills engulfed in flames for weeks.On June 30, a massive fire broke out at the Jatiwaringin landfill in Tangerang regency, Banten, to the west of Jakarta. Although firefighters were immediately deployed, it took 10 days to fully extinguish the blaze. By then, roughly half of the 33-hectare facility had burned, releasing toxic fumes that caused acute respiratory infections in more than 300 nearby residents.
Local and national officials were quick to blame the prolonged high temperatures of the dry season and reported open burning adjacent to the facility. However, these environmental factors should have been better mitigated, especially since this kind of blaze is not unprecedented.
