Solid waste management in tropical Asia: what can we learn from Bali?

Solid waste is a serious and growing problem thoughout tropical Asia. Waste management technologies and policies have not kept pace with the increase in waste production. The island of Bali in Indonesia is an atypical case in which both production and awareness of waste are relatively advanced. As such it is a useful case for exploring the wider problem and possible solutions. This article reviews the current state of solid waste management in Bali. It shows that there is a fundamental tension between large-scale industrial solutions and small-scale community-based ones, but that the most successful solutions to date are at intermediate scales. It argues that the reasons for this relative success are primarily social, cultural and political ones rather than technical or economic ones.