Rescue operations have officially ended at Indonesia’s Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Facility after a massive garbage avalanche killed seven people on Sunday, March 8, 2026, marking a grim conclusion to a two-day search effort at the country’s largest landfill.
The deadly collapse happened Sunday morning at the expansive dump in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, when heavy overnight rain caused a major slide of refuse and debris. The landslide buried workers who were working at the site or resting nearby as tons of waste suddenly slid down, engulfing several garbage trucks and small food stalls along the way.
Desiana Kartika Bahari, head of Jakarta’s Search and Rescue Office, said the search ended Tuesday after rescuers found the final one of seven victims within the landfill. The fatalities were truck drivers and food stall owners present at the site. Six people survived the incident.
“We received information from police that two among those missing were safe and had returned to their homes,” Bahari told reporters Tuesday, March 10.
More than 200 rescuers operated around the clock using excavators and thermal drones to find victims during the intense search. Photos and footage released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed crews combing through vast piles of trash while heavy machinery carefully dug through mountains of waste in hopes of finding survivors.
The Bantargebang facility opened in 1989 and is Indonesia’s largest waste disposal site. Covering 110 hectares, the landfill takes in between 6,500 and 7,000 tons of garbage each day from Greater Jakarta and has accumulated roughly 55 million tonnes of waste over its years of operation. The site has long been a central focus for environmental reform efforts as authorities struggle to manage the enormous volume of rubbish produced by the metropolitan area’s 32 million residents.
This was not the first fatal event at the location. Past landslides have resulted in deaths at the facility, including a 2006 collapse that killed three scavengers. In January 2026, another landslide at the site pulled three garbage trucks into a riverbed, foreshadowing the larger tragedy on Sunday.
Thousands of people from nearby communities work informally as waste pickers at Bantargebang, sorting refuse for recyclable materials they can sell for a small income. Around 3,000 waste workers are present at the site daily, contributing nearly 10 percent of the facility’s non-organic recycling. Sunday’s disaster emphasized the hazardous conditions these workers face.
The facility has repeatedly been warned about capacity issues and has been described as “overwhelmed” by the volume of trash it receives. In late 2025, the government unveiled a two-year plan to clear Bantargebang through an accelerated waste-to-energy project intended to reduce chronic reliance on open dumping.
The deadly collapse has brought renewed scrutiny to Bantargebang and similar sites across Indonesia. Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq visited the scene Sunday evening and assigned responsibility to local authorities.
“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 remarks reflect increasing pressure on Indonesian officials to tackle long-standing waste management problems affecting urban areas. President Prabowo Subianto warned last month that many of Indonesia’s landfills, which are being phased out over time, would reach capacity by 2028.
Environmental watchdog Walhi said Sunday’s disaster was at least the fifth trash avalanche in Greater Jakarta in the past six months, highlighting the critical capacity issues at disposal sites. The group urged the city to focus on cutting waste at the source and enforcing extended producer responsibility policies.
The catastrophe highlights the dangerous working conditions faced by thousands of waste workers across Southeast Asia, where informal waste picking remains a primary source of income for many impoverished families. These workers routinely navigate hazardous terrain, climbing unstable mounds of trash without safety gear or proper training.
Heavy rainfall has become a growing problem for landfill sites in the region, where poor drainage and inadequate structural planning create conditions prone to catastrophic failure. The overnight rain that triggered Sunday’s slide saturated the huge waste piles, causing them to lose stability and collapse.
Indonesia has grappled with waste management challenges for decades, as rapid urbanization and population growth have outpaced infrastructure. Jakarta alone generates thousands of tons of garbage daily, much of it ending up at sites like Bantargebang, which was originally built on former rice paddies chosen for low-cost land acquisition rather than lasting suitability.
The incident bears grim similarities to other recent landfill disasters across Asia. In January, a garbage avalanche at the Binaliw landfill in Cebu City, Philippines killed 36 people—mostly sanitation workers—and became one of that city’s deadliest industrial tragedies.
Indonesian officials face growing pressure to change their approach to waste management, moving beyond piling trash into ever-larger mounds toward sustainable solutions that protect both workers and the environment. The government has announced plans to build 10 waste-to-energy incinerators nationwide as part of a broader goal to have 33 such plants operational by 2029 — but it is unclear whether these measures will arrive in time to prevent future disasters.