Rescue operations have ended at Indonesia’s Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Facility after a massive garbage landslide on Sunday, March 8, 2026, killed seven people, marking a solemn close to a two-day recovery effort at the country’s largest landfill.
The deadly slide struck Sunday morning at the sprawling dump in Bekasi, near Jakarta, when heavy overnight rain triggered a large shift of rubbish and debris. The flow of waste overwhelmed workers who were on duty or resting nearby, burying them as tons of trash cascaded down and crushed several garbage trucks and small food stalls.
Desiana Kartika Bahari, head of Jakarta’s Search and Rescue Office, said the search ended Tuesday after the last of the seven victims was found in the landfill. Those killed included truck drivers and food stall operators working at the site. Six people survived.
“We received information from police that two among those missing were safe and had returned to their homes,” Bahari told reporters on Tuesday, March 10.
More than 200 rescuers worked around the clock, relying on excavators and thermal drones during the intense search. Photos and videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed crews sorting through massive piles of rubbish while heavy machinery carefully dug through the mounds of waste looking for survivors.
The Bantargebang facility, opened in 1989, is Indonesia’s biggest waste disposal site. Covering 110 hectares, the landfill receives between 6,500 and 7,000 tons of garbage daily from Greater Jakarta and has accumulated more than 80 million tons of trash over time — roughly 30 million tons beyond its designed capacity. The site has been central to government environmental reform efforts as authorities try to manage the huge volume of waste produced by the metropolitan area’s 32 million residents.
This was not the first fatal incident there. Previous landslides have caused deaths, including a 2006 collapse that killed three scavengers. In January 2026, another slide at the site dragged three garbage trucks into a riverbed, foreshadowing Sunday’s larger disaster.
Thousands of people from nearby communities work informally as waste pickers at Bantargebang, salvaging recyclables to sell and earn a small income. Around 3,000 waste workers operate at the site daily, handling nearly 10 percent of the facility’s non-organic recycling. Sunday’s tragedy highlighted the dangerous conditions these laborers face.
The facility has long been warned about exceeding capacity and has been described as “overwhelmed” by the volume of garbage it receives. In late 2025, authorities announced a two-year plan to clear Bantargebang through an accelerated waste-to-energy project designed to reduce reliance on open dumping.
The deadly collapse has drawn renewed focus on Bantargebang and similar sites across Indonesia. Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq visited the area on Sunday evening, March 8, and placed responsibility squarely on local authorities.
After the disaster, the Jakarta provincial government agreed to suspend operations in Zone 4A and divert incoming waste to Zone 3, while two additional disposal points are prepared.
“Bantargebang belongs to the Jakarta administration, so they have to take responsibility,” Hanif told broadcaster Kompas TV. “This incident must truly serve as a bitter lesson for us so that Jakarta can promptly make improvements.”
His comments reflect growing pressure on Indonesian leaders to address long-standing waste management problems affecting urban areas. President Prabowo Subianto warned last month that many of the country’s landfills, which are being phased out over time, will reach capacity by 2028.
Environmental group Walhi said Sunday’s disaster was at least the fifth trash avalanche in Greater Jakarta in the past six months, underscoring critical capacity issues at disposal sites. The group urged officials to cut waste generation and enforce extended producer responsibility rules.
The incident highlights the precarious conditions faced by thousands of waste workers across Southeast Asia, where informal waste picking provides a livelihood for many families in poverty. These workers frequently climb unstable piles of trash without protective equipment or proper training.
Heavy rain has become an increasing threat to landfills in the region, where poor drainage and insufficient planning create risks of collapse. The overnight storms that triggered Sunday’s avalanche soaked the large waste mounds, weakening them until they gave way.
Indonesia has grappled with waste management challenges for years, as rapid urban growth has outpaced infrastructure development. Jakarta alone produces thousands of tons of waste daily, much of which ends up at sites like Bantargebang, originally built on former rice paddies chosen for cheap land rather than long-term suitability.
The incident bears a stark resemblance to other recent landfill disasters in Asia. In January, a garbage slide at Cebu City’s Binaliw landfill in the Philippines killed 36 people—mostly sanitation workers—and was one of that city’s deadliest industrial accidents.
Despite the tragedy, the Jakarta Environment Agency announced plans to expand Bantargebang onto adjacent private land, calling it a ‘last resort’ to keep up with the capital’s waste—an option criticized by environmental groups.
Indonesian authorities face mounting pressure to reform waste management, shifting away from piling refuse into ever-larger mounds toward sustainable approaches that protect workers and the environment. The government has proposed building 10 waste-to-energy incinerators nationwide as part of a target to have 33 plants operational by 2029 — but it is uncertain whether those steps will arrive in time to prevent future tragedies.
