In Bali, a Community Is Turning Plastic Waste Into Fuel

As fuel prices rise and landfills overflow, a small group of engineers believes the island’s trash problem could become an energy solution.

SIBANG KAJA, Bali — The machine sits inside a modest workshop surrounded by rice fields and tropical trees, humming softly beneath the afternoon heat.

Inside its steel chamber is a mixture of things most people would rather forget: instant noodle wrappers, snack packaging, plastic bags and discarded household waste.

Three hours later, they emerge as something entirely different.

Fuel.

On an island struggling with mounting waste and growing concern over energy costs, a community-led initiative in Bali believes it has found an answer hidden in plain sight.

“We actually have the solution right in front of us,” said Dimas Bagus Wijanarko, founder of Get Plastic, a waste-to-energy community based in Sibang Kaja, Badung Regency. “Plastic waste is treated as a problem. But it can also become part of the solution.”

For years, Bali’s waste crisis has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Plastic washes onto beaches during monsoon season. Illegal dumping continues in some areas. Landfills face mounting pressure from a growing population and millions of annual visitors.

At the same time, Indonesians have watched fuel prices fluctuate amid global energy uncertainty.

To Wijanarko, the two challenges are connected.

Since 2013, he has been researching alternative energy systems, convinced that rising fossil fuel costs would eventually force communities to look elsewhere.

“What many people don’t realize is that plastic itself comes from fossil fuels,” he said. “In a way, we’re recovering energy that already exists inside the material.”

The technology employed by Get Plastic is called pyrolysis, a thermal decomposition process that heats plastic in an oxygen-free environment. Unlike open burning, which releases smoke and pollutants directly into the atmosphere, pyrolysis relies on controlled heating at temperatures reaching around 250 degrees Celsius.

According to Wijanarko, a 10-kilogram batch of low-value plastic waste can produce roughly 10 liters of fuel in about three hours.

The economics are equally striking.

The group estimates production costs at approximately Rp7,000, or about 43 U.S. cents, per liter. That figure is significantly below commercial fuel prices, although the project currently operates as a community initiative rather than a commercial enterprise.

Yet the technology comes with important limitations.

Not every type of plastic can be processed safely. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly used in beverage bottles, is excluded because it retains higher recycling value. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), meanwhile, is rejected entirely due to its high chlorine content and potential environmental risks.

There is another caveat.

The fuel itself contains concentrated compounds derived from the original plastic feedstock. For that reason, Get Plastic does not market the product for consumer vehicles. Instead, it is distributed free of charge to community groups operating fishing boats, agricultural machinery, shredding equipment and electricity generators.

“The most dangerous part is actually the oil itself,” Wijanarko acknowledged. “The substances that exist inside the plastic become concentrated in the fuel.”

Over the past decade, Get Plastic has developed more than ten machine prototypes. Today, around three units operate in Bali, while more than forty have been deployed across Indonesia. Wijanarko estimates that roughly 80 percent remain operational.

For him, the long-term vision extends beyond individual machines.

He sees landfills not merely as the final destination for waste, but as untapped energy reserves.

“If we borrow the language of mining,” he said with a smile, “then perhaps our mines are landfills.”

Whether small-scale pyrolysis can become a meaningful part of Indonesia’s future energy mix remains an open question. Environmental experts continue to debate its long-term sustainability, economics and emissions profile.

But as Bali searches for solutions to its growing waste problem, communities like Get Plastic are testing an idea that once seemed improbable: that the island’s mountains of discarded plastic may contain value after all.

Not as waste.

But as fuel.

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