National Waste Awareness Day: A Moment to Start Sorting Waste from Home, Small Steps for Big Impact.

The commemoration of National Waste Awareness Day is rooted in the tragedy of the Leuwigajah Final Disposal Site (TPA) landslide in 2005, a dark event caused by the failure of waste management. The collapse of a massive waste pile stretching approximately 200 meters long and reaching up to 60 meters high triggered a methane gas explosion. The incident claimed 157 lives in Cilimus Village and Pojok Village, West Bandung Regency, West Java.

This tragedy serves as a stark reminder that waste is not merely a matter of cleanliness, but also an issue of safety, public health, and environmental governance. From this disaster, National Waste Awareness Day was established as a shared moment of reflection (Tempo, 2023).

Twenty years later, Indonesia’s waste management challenges continue to grow, including in coastal regions and small islands such as Alor Regency.

Waste Generation Continues to Increase

Waste is a direct consequence of human activities in meeting daily needs. Every consumption activity, whether at the household level, offices, or the business sector, generates waste that continues to accumulate.

Data from the National Waste Management Information System (SIPSN) shows that in 2025 Indonesia’s total waste generation reached 18,440,197.64 tons, equivalent to approximately 3 million adult elephants, a figure that illustrates how massive the waste burden must be handled each year. Of this amount, the household sector is the largest contributor, accounting for 6,070,953.76 tons or about 56.84 percent (SIPSN KLHK, 2026). This figure underscores one important point, households are the key entry point in the solution to waste management.

For archipelagic regions such as Alor, this issue becomes even more critical. Limited landfill space, the high cost of inter-island waste transport, and the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems mean that waste management can no longer rely solely on the collect-transport-dispose approach.

Waste Has Become a Coastal Ecosystem Issue

Waste management is not only a land-based issue, but also a marine issue and a matter of coastal community livelihoods. In archipelagic areas such as Alor, field findings show that waste left unmanaged on land quickly ends up in coastal areas and waters, reinforcing the urgency of upstream intervention.

Poorly managed land-based waste can easily flow into the sea through waterways and drainage systems. Alor has many seasonal dry rivers which, during the rainy season, carry accumulated waste from these channels into coastal waters. In fact, the impacts can be directly felt on:

1. the health of coral reef ecosystems

2. the quality of coastal waters

3. the capture fisheries sector

4. marine tourism

5. the health of coastal communities

   
   

Nautika Foundation is formulating a community-based waste management approach that starts upstream, at the household level. This approach not only aims to reduce waste generation, but also to ensure that waste management delivers tangible benefits for communities.

In practice, ETA encourages waste management systems to truly take root and become embedded at the household and community levels. Waste is no longer viewed merely as a burden, but as a resource that can be collectively managed. Through sorting, collection, and reuse schemes, communities have the opportunity to generate economic value from waste that was previously discarded.

Furthermore, this approach opens space for strengthening alternative livelihoods based on waste management. Income generated from these activities can be managed to support communal needs, such as maintaining houses of worship, strengthening village funds, and supporting other social facilities. In this way, the benefits of waste management are felt not only environmentally, but also socially and economically within the community.

When this system runs consistently, the environment becomes cleaner, the ocean better protected, and communities gain real incentives to sustain these good practices. Sorting waste from home is a simple yet strategic step. More than just a habit, waste segregation is a form of responsibility embedded in every community. When sorting is carried out at the source:

• not all waste needs to end up in landfills

• organic waste can be processed into compost

• inorganic waste can be recycled and generate additional economic value

• residual waste volumes can be significantly reduced

  
  

Small actions carried out consistently at the household level will create major impacts when done collectively. For regions like Alor, which have limited carrying capacity, this approach is no longer optional, but essential.

Know Your Waste Types, Start Sorting from Home

In practice, household waste sorting can begin with the following four main categories:

1. Organic Waste

   Waste derived from living matter that easily decomposes naturally, such as food scraps, vegetables and fruit, dry leaves, and kitchen waste. This type of waste can be processed into compost that benefits soil and plants.

2. Inorganic Waste

   Waste made from non-biological materials or industrial products that take a long time to decompose, such as plastics, glass bottles, cans, and paper. When clean and dry, this waste has economic value and can be channeled through waste banks or recycling partners.

3. Residual Waste

   Waste that cannot be recycled or composted with currently available technology, such as disposable diapers, sanitary pads, cigarette butts, and multilayer packaging. This type must be minimized as much as possible because it will ultimately end up in landfills.

4. Household Hazardous Waste (B3)

   Waste containing hazardous and toxic materials, such as used batteries, fluorescent lamps, expired medicines, pesticide cans, and small electronic waste. This waste must not be mixed and requires special handling.

Understanding the characteristics of each type of waste is a crucial foundation for building proper and consistent waste sorting habits.

From Homes in Alor, Toward a Healthier Environment

Nautika Foundation observes that behavioral change at the household level creates a strong ripple effect at the community level. When one household starts sorting waste, neighbors begin to notice. When one village begins managing waste, the environmental burden starts to decrease. When communities move together, the environment becomes better protected.

This is the spirit continuously promoted through the community-based approach in Alor, that big solutions often begin with small steps carried out consistently.

The high contribution of household waste shows that the home is the most strategic starting point in waste management. Through collective movements such as Elevate Trash Action (ETA) in Alor, every family is encouraged to begin sorting and managing their waste as a concrete contribution to protecting the environment. Waste sorting is not complicated, but it does require awareness and consistency.

National Waste Awareness Day 2026 is an important moment to remember that change does not always have to start at a large scale.

Start from home.

Start from daily habits.

Start from small steps.

Sources

Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia. (2026). National Waste Management Information System (SIPSN): Waste generation data for 2025. https://sipsn.menlhk.go.id

Tempo.co. (2023). The Leuwigajah landfill tragedy and the history of National Waste Awareness Day. https://www.tempo.co