Bandung Residents Turn Waste Into Shopping and Healthcare Vouchers

BANDUNG, GARISBUMI.com – Waste sorted from home can provide economic benefits as well as help reduce the burden on final processing sites (TPA). In Bandung City, residents can even exchange segregated waste for shopping vouchers and health check services.

This creative method was applied in the Garbage Bazaar Shopping activity held by the Great Bandung community at Bandung City Hall, Saturday, September 12 2026. This activity was part of a series of commemorations of the 216th Anniversary of the City of Bandung.

This program encourages people to change their perspective on waste. Items previously considered useless can have economic value after being sorted and collected properly.

Bandung Mayor Muhammad Farhan also set an example by exchanging sorted waste. The 8 kilograms of paper waste and 0.5 kilograms of clean plastic he brought were valued at IDR 22,000.

The value of the waste is then converted into shopping vouchers worth IDR 5,000 and bonuses for health check services.

"Alhamdulillah, hopefully this initiative from residents can provide added value to our efforts to ensure that waste handling is a joint handling, not just carried out by the government alone," said Farhan.

According to him, the movement built by Great Bandung shows that the community can take a direct role in solving the waste problem. The government needs to provide space and support so that similar movements continue to develop.