Idiotopedia: Living in the Wasteland
Disclaimer: I'm not a "green warrior," and I'm not saying I know much about the fight for the earth. The way I think is like that of an investor—I see the world through numbers, chances, and rewards. My view is based on the facts of making money, not on lofty ideas about how to save the world. I'm telling you the truth as I see it: if we want to solve the waste problem, we need to think about how to make money off of it. It's not about being good; it's about being smart.
Happy weekend! I've heard people talk about "green initiatives" for years, using big words like "sustainability" and "circular economy." Though many people say nice things about protecting the environment, only one thing changes things: MONEY. I'm not here to do that; I'm just going to share the reality that continues to bother me. Yes, managing waste isn't just about protecting the earth; it's also about making money from trash. It's about doing a business that can profit from things others throw away... well, at least, that's what I thought when I wrote my investment thesis about 3 years ago.
Take Jakarta* as an example. A city with more than 11 million people produces about 7,500 tons of trash every day. That looks like a problem on paper, but it's a great treasure trove for someone like me. Waste is money just waiting to be made, and there are huge chances if you know where to look and what to do.
Organic Waste
Let me start with organic waste: every day in Jakarta, 4,500 to 5,000 tons of it are made, which is 60–70% of all the trash the city makes. Many people don't know this isn't just trash—for some, it's a wealth waiting to be discovered. Consider this: just 10% of this organic waste, or around 500 tons per day, could bring in about IDR 500 million (~USD 32,000) per day in cash. Organic soil costs between IDR 1,000 and 1,500 per kilogram, and Indonesia's agriculture industry, which is growing constantly, would be happy to take this supply.
BUT, the reality of the story is why this isn't happening. It's not that the opportunity isn't there; the system is set up to make it impossible. There is no teaching about how to deal with trash, no enforcement of trash separation, and no infrastructure to back it up. What does that mean? There is a gray area, maybe even a black area, where opportunities for change meet the comfort of greed, inefficiency, and lack of knowledge. The truth is that bad businesses do well because good businesses haven't figured out how to make money from them yet, rite?
(Somehow) it's clear what the opportunity is. Imagine putting together separate recycling units in the neighborhoods (somewhere) in Jakarta. With a small capital, you could set up a network of small, effective businesses that would bring in money and involve the local community. And this is where it gets even better: making biogas. Anaerobic digestion can turn 10 tons of organic waste per day into energy that can power 100 houses. This energy can then be sold to the grid or people in the area. Now you have 2 ways to make money: electricity and bio-slurry fertilizer, which are very much needed (well, that's what the idealistic situation going through my mind says).
Yet, biogas plants and waste businesses are ready to be used for profit. Permits from the government, community support, and land access all cost money, if you understand what I mean. You must find your way through this gray area; you can't avoid it. There is money to be made. But to turn this waste into wealth, you must be ready to get your hands dirty, physically and figuratively.
Inorganic Waste
In this part, a shocking number of around 2,000 to 3,000 tons of inorganic waste, mostly plastics and metals, are added to Jakarta's trash every day. I think we need to be honest for a moment: these are not just numbers; they show how inefficient the system is. For example, think about plastic trash. Over 80% of it is thrown away or burned, even though it has a huge potential to be turned into useful materials. Every day, we waste millions of rupiahs, which should make any investment very angry.
Let me do some simple math. In Indonesia, recycled PET plastic is worth between IDR 5,000 and 10,000 per kilogram. Let's say we can collect and recycle 500 tons of plastic trash every day. We're talking about IDR 4-5 billion per day in possible income. That's more than 100 billion IDR a month, no problem. Still, here we are, seeing plastic trash burn away. It's not that we don't have the technology, but the system is broken. The current system barely works because it has old facilities, dishonest methods, and informal trash pickers at the very end of the chain who are not connected to the official recycling network.
This is where things get messy, both physically and figuratively. The unofficial garbage industry makes recycling work in Jakarta but stays out of sight. These trash pickers dig through mountains of trash to find recyclables, but they have to sell them to shady dealers who take a big cut before sending the stuff to recycling centers. This is where "gray business" comes in. These deals happen behind closed doors that don't follow fair trade rules. The picks only get a small part of the money their work is worth. Nobody seems to mind that these middlemen, frequently receiving funding from mafia-like organizations, take advantage of the waste to make money.
But what if we put the process in one place? Imagine getting rid of these dishonest middlemen and letting trash pickers work directly with the government. Imagine a "GoJek" for trash—a digital platform that connects people who collect trash with recycling centers and helps them with logistics and fair prices (yeah, there are some startups already there; you can name them). A method like this would not only make sure that the people who pick up trash are paid more, but it would also make the recycling process run more smoothly and openly. By giving trash collectors better tools and access to a bigger network, the city could get a bigger share of recyclables, which would easily double the amount we return now.
I think this would mess up the informal and often illegal networks that run the waste trade. This would make the people who do the work richer and those who run the system poorer. It would be good for the business and the environment because it would create real jobs and clean up the streets at the same time. What are the numbers? It will be a very different story, in which the IDR 100 billion per month doesn't go up in smoke but is instead put back into making the future better, greener, and more profitable for everyone (see, this is all about the logic of supply chain management or logistic business rite?)
Waste-to-Energy (WTE)
Now, let me share a bit about the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) business—a model where the numbers truly tell the story. The idea of turning waste into electricity may sound innovative, but let's not shy away from the reality beneath it. For every ton of municipal waste, you're looking at roughly 500 kWh of electricity generated. That sounds promising until you start to calculate the sheer volume. Jakarta alone produces 7,500 tons of waste per day, and capturing just 10% of that waste (750 tons) could generate around 375,000 kWh of electricity, enough to power 30,000 homes per day.
Again, the numbers look great on paper, but a small-scale WTE plant, processing just 200 tons per day, could generate roughly IDR 100 million (USD 6,400) in daily electricity sales. This means you'd need IDR 80 to 100 billion (USD 5-6 million) upfront for the plant. In a perfect world, that investment would pay off within a few years, but let's not kid ourselves—this is the waste industry. To break even, you're battling operational costs, the labyrinth of permits, government kickbacks, and, yes, (another) grey-area deals that are inevitable when you start scaling up.
The real money might not be in the electricity sales but in the back-end negotiations. Partnering with local governments, sharing profits, and giving a "cut" to the right people can make or break a deal. The grey areas exist for a reason—they grease the wheels in an industry that is still figuring out how to monetize waste.
Speaking of grey business, I've been working on an ideation that turns even human feces into energy (yes, you can read from my book "Poop Economy"). Yes, you heard it—POOP! What I like to call "briquet-poop" is the idea of turning human waste into fuel, similar to how coal is used to make energy. And it's not just a pipe dream—I'm trying to create a movement concept of poop-preneurs, aiming to monetize this untapped resource. Then, numbers, again, can tell the story here. Suppose just 1 million households in Jakarta could contribute their fecal waste. In that case, we're looking at a significant resource that can be converted into energy, reducing dependency on traditional waste streams (I will share about the simple flow of money in a different article).
Then, what will be the key takeaway? WTE isn't just about being eco-friendly. It's about finding where the numbers make sense—and that often means embracing the messy parts of the business, including its less-than-perfect sides. In the end, the numbers that tell the story aren't just the kWh generated but the backdoor deals that make the whole thing run (same s*** but different smells).
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Why Waste is a Missed Opportunity?
As I keep saying, the real problem isn't whether or not trash is valuable; most people, especially those with money, don't see its full potential. When investors try to make money from waste, they often only think about the short term, wanting quick results while ignoring the long, hard process that unlocks the value. Again, take Jakarta as an example. Every year, the city makes millions of tons of trash, but billions of rupiah aren't used to pay for anything. Why? Because the regulations aren't strong enough, the infrastructure is falling apart, and people generally don't care about managing trash, yes, including you and me!
Here are some realities to help you see the validity. Just 20% of Jakarta's annual waste could be kept out of dumps, saving billions of rupiah. Composting, recycling, or WTE are (actually) possibilities for doing this. These aren't quick wins, though. It needs a big investment in infrastructure up front, which most investors don't do because the payback times are so long. Taking care of trash isn't fun; it's dirty, takes a long time, and needs new systems for collecting, sorting, and handling trash.
If we separate trash at the source, it might make a difference, but we need to involve neighborhoods and rethink how trash is collected in each home. It's not enough to educate people; we need to set up "decentralized processing hubs" directly linked to businesses and recycling centers. This will make it easier for trash to be turned into money.
And, in terms of money, the numbers are very promising. A decentralized hub plan could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars annually, not counting government grants or carbon credits. However, investors who only look at short-term gains will miss the whole journey. Building decentralized hubs takes time, getting community involvement, and finding your way through regulatory gray areas. The nasty part is that the money also doesn't come in quickly.
People who are willing to endure the long, frustrating process are the real winners in the waste game. The return is huge, but you must be patient, think ahead, and be okay with the shady deals that keep things going. That's the gap: most people with money haven't been in it long. That's why billions of dollars are still on the table, waiting for someone with the right vision and persistence to take them.
My Opinion: Waste Isn't Just Trash—It's Business
I've seen Indonesia's waste management business fail for years, and one thing is very clear: trash is not a problem; it's a resource. The things that people love to complain about about the system are exactly what make it so valuable. Every kilogram of trash thrown into the streets and every ton of food waste left to rot in a landfill? You can make money from these secret sources.
It's easy to see simple math that composting 500 tons of organic waste every day could bring in IDR 500 million, and recycling 500 tons of plastic could bring in a cool IDR 5 billion. Waste-to-energy plants could power tens of thousands of houses and ease the load on landfills. Moreover, this isn't just about being good to the world. It's about seeing trash as the profitable, scalable business prospect that it is.
The story takes a turn: it's not about saving the world, at least not in the way you think. Money people and business owners love to ride the wave of green ideals, but let's get real. The real game isn't some kind of quest to heal the Earth. It's about making money off of waste and changing trash into treasure. I can talk about sustainability all day, but it all comes down to one thing: MONEY.
It's not up to governments or world organizations to fix this, which makes it even more interesting. They're too slow and caught up in red tape to move quickly. In reality, it's on you. The opportunities are clear, but to take them, you need to do something, not just talk about them. Waste is the most undervalued treasure there is. While everyone else gives TED Talks about climate change, the real power is in doing the dirty work and getting paid for it.
No, this isn't some lofty, feel-good method to save the world. It means seeing things others miss and having the guts to do something about it. Get going now. Start small. Start with you. The resource most people don't see is right in front of them: trash. While everyone else talks, the real entrepreneurs will use trash to build companies.
Enjoy your own trash life!
NOTE:
This isn't just happening in Jakarta; most towns in Indonesia have the same problems with trash, though each has its restrictions and different growth goals. The waste and missed opportunities I'm talking about aren't just happening in the city; they're a nationwide problem. Cities from Surabaya, Bandung, Bali, and Medan to Papua have the same problems: a lack of infrastructure, careless regulations, or people who don't think like businesspeople.
References and Relevant Sources:
1. Law No. 18 of 2008 on Waste Management (Indonesia) -- https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/39067/uu-no-18-tahun-2008
8. Image copied from https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/news/20200717153336-4-173587/gawat-bantar-gebang-tempat-buang-sampah-dki-penuh-di-2021 (thank you CNBC Indonesia)