What is it about?
Cities produce more and more waste, but land, money, and public awareness to manage it are limited. This study looks at Blitar City, a small city in Indonesia, to understand which waste treatment options work best in real conditions. Instead of focusing only on technology, the research compares costs, environmental impacts, regulations, market readiness, and community involvement across several waste treatment methods. The results show that turning waste into fuel (refuse-derived fuel/RDF) is currently the most practical option for Blitar because it can reduce landfill use, lower environmental pressure, and create economic value, especially when supported by local government, private partners, and active community participation. The study highlights that effective waste management is not just a technical problem, but a social and economic one, and that small cities can improve sustainability by choosing solutions that fit their local context rather than copying expensive technologies from large cities.
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Why is it important?
This study is timely because many small and medium-sized cities are facing a waste crisis driven by rising consumption, limited landfill space, and tight public budgets. While advanced waste technologies are often promoted, local governments frequently struggle to apply them in practice. This research is unique because it goes beyond technical performance and evaluates waste management options using a combined environmental and economic perspective that also considers regulations, markets, institutional readiness, and community participation. Rather than asking “which technology is best in theory,” the study asks “which option actually works under local constraints.” The key contribution of this work is showing that context-appropriate solutions—such as refuse-derived fuel—can outperform more expensive or complex technologies when cost, land availability, and social conditions are taken into account. By focusing on a small city, the study fills an important gap in the literature that is often dominated by large metropolitan case studies. The findings provide practical insights for policymakers and planners in similar cities, offering a realistic pathway toward more sustainable, affordable, and socially inclusive waste management. This makes the study relevant not only for researchers, but also for local governments seeking actionable solutions.
Perspectives
This publication reflects a concern that is often overlooked in sustainability research: the gap between ambitious waste management ideas and what local governments can realistically implement. Working on this study reinforced the view that many cities do not fail because they lack technology, but because proposed solutions ignore local budgets, institutional capacity, and community behavior. Focusing on Blitar City made it clear that smaller cities face different constraints from large metropolitan areas, yet they are rarely the main focus of academic research. This work is particularly meaningful because it demonstrates that practical, incremental solutions can deliver real environmental and economic benefits without relying on overly complex systems. The emphasis on community involvement and inter-sector collaboration also resonates strongly, as waste management ultimately depends on everyday actions by households and local actors. Overall, this publication represents an effort to bridge research and practice, offering evidence that sustainability transitions are achievable when solutions are grounded in local realities rather than idealized models.
Zainuri Hanif
National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Sustainable Waste Management in Blitar City:, International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, January 2026, International Community of Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development,
DOI: 10.14246/irspsd.14.1_41.
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