March 28, 2026 | 10:01 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Four days after a garbage landslide at the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Processing Site (TPST) in Bekasi, West Java, which killed seven people on Sunday, March 8, 2026, the situation already looked almost back to normal. When Tempo visited the scene in Zone IVA, the northernmost landfill area, four excavators were rearranging the waste that had slid down. Two garbage trucks crushed by the avalanche of trash had not yet been evacuated.
Zone IV is an 11-hectare landfill complex consisting of five waste mounds known as Zones IVA, IVB, IVC, IVD, and IVE. Zone IVA is the largest and tallest. It lies between Zones IVC and IVB. The landslide occurred on the northwest side of Zone IVA, near an access road running alongside Jalan TPA, across from the factory of Tardigrada Plastik Indonesia. No fence separates the garbage mound from the road, only a fairly large drainage ditch.
Tempo met Sarjah, 68, who scavenges for waste in the area. He said he was searching for used tires to sell to support his daily needs. "The landslide happened over there," Sarjah said, pointing to the Zone IVA mound about 15 meters from where he stood. "This is the second incident this year. The previous one happened in January," said the man who has scavenged at Bantargebang for decades.
That day Sarjah was alone. Before the landslide, he said, many scavengers searched for plastic, cardboard, wood, and glass bottles to sell. Income from scavenging is uncertain, he said sometimes reaching Rp50,000 (about US$2.9) a day, but sometimes he returns home with an empty wallet. Their work also carry risks because scavengers are not supposed to enter the landfill area, which is considered dangerous.
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