Black soldier flies and their “magic barrels” are on the march, bringing an environmentally friendly waste management solution to communities across Indonesia. The award-winning recycling initiative began in the province South Sulawesi, and it uses special barrels to process organic waste into fertilizer. It was developed by a community empowerment and environmental protection organization supported by the USAID MADANI activity, which was funded by USAID and implemented by FHI 360.
USAID MADANI enhanced the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to achieve social change across 32 districts and cities in Indonesia. In the city of Palopo, the lead civil society partner, Yayasan Bumi Sawerigading (YBS), used the program’s support to improve solid waste management in its district. Waste management has been a longtime challenge for many cities in Indonesia, with improper disposal leading to serious consequences for the economy, the environment and public health.
In Palopo, the second-largest city in South Sulawesi, only 60% of the city’s 50 tons of daily organic household waste can be recycled by conventional methods — the rest is either thrown away or burned. YBS took the initiative to tackle the issue, spearheading a community-led approach to greater environmental sustainability. Their innovation is called TONGKAT, an acronym that translates to “integrated magic barrel and box.” Once household leftovers, foodstuffs or packaging scraps are deposited into barrels, black soldier flies, which are common in the region, arrive by themselves and get to work — converting garbage into liquid fertilizer, compost and protein for animal feed. Each of the barrels can produce as much as 125 liters of liquid fertilizer a month, which can be sold for supplementary income.
USAID MADANI supported YBS from March 2020 to September 2023, funding the pilot of its black soldier fly solution. We also provided organizational development support on core capacities based on a self-assessment carried out by YBS, including financial management, advocacy, and strategic communication.
In each of the districts where USAID MADANI worked, the CSO partner supported an informal local multistakeholder forum (called a “learning forum”) to build collective action and collaborative governance. In Palopo, YBS established the Forum Belajar Mapaccing (FBM) in September 2020. It consists of other local CSOs, local government officials and notable community activists, including journalists, all of whom helped YBS develop the recycling solution. The solution itself was piloted in late 2021 and early 2022, with eight barrels in two communities.
“We had this idea [for TONGKAT] but did not really know how to promote it,” says Abdul Malik Saleh, the executive director of YBS. “With training in advocacy and in strategic communication, we have promoted this solution to the local government, to villages, schools and restaurants, and we can see that Palopo is slowly becoming cleaner.”
The TONGKAT depends on citizens’ participation, and the conscientiousness of households and restaurants, to be successful. At the District Environment Agency’s request, YBS has been providing sessions to educate communities on recycling and train them on how to use the TONGKAT method.
The local government has been so impressed by the magic barrel solution that they included it in their submission for a sanitation and hygiene award from the Ministry of Health. In November 2021, TONGKAT contributed to Palopo winning the national sanitation award under the sustainability category. Palopo is also shortlisted for the 2024 award.
Improved trust in civil society — in large part due to USAID MADANI — has inspired the Palopo government to further encourage citizen-driven innovations and solutions to address local development challenges. In July 2022, Palopo enacted a mayoral decree and a regulation from the District Environment Agency to bolster the role of citizens in handling the city’s waste problems. YBS and the FBM learning forum were involved in drafting the decree and regulation and providing the main components of the community-based waste management strategy. In January 2024, YBS and FBM submitted a white paper for the revision of a regulation concerning waste management in Palopo.
Today there are 50 active TONGKAT barrels in Palopo and two neighboring districts, Luwu Timur and Gowa. Some are funded by YBS, others by neighborhood funds and by the District Environment Agency. YBS aims to expand the program to have 10 TONGKAT barrels in each of the 48 urban communities in Palopo, and local organizations are continuing to educate communities on the solution and approaching various local companies for funding.
“Our hope with this is that we can continue to collaborate with YBS to replicate [the TONGKAT] innovation in many more government agencies and communities, because the government of Palopo is limited in our capacity to manage waste,” says Emil Nugraha Salam, Head of the District Environment Agency. “The volume of waste goes up every year, and good solid waste management needs innovations with the collaboration of CSOs, environmental activists and communities. YBS and FBM’s involvement in recent years has really helped the Palopo government in managing waste and educating residents to manage waste independently in their homes or environments.”