On 4 September 2026, 1.2 tonnes of recyclable materials left Pasir Panjang Village on Rinca Island for mainland Labuan Bajo, Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara. The materials had been collected through household deposits at Pasir Panjang Village’s Waste Bank and were transported to Kampung Nelayan in Warloka, where they were sold to an offtaker.

It was the first sale made by the newly established waste bank. For the community, it was also a practical test of whether recyclables collected on the island could be brought to the mainland and sold.

“Seeing the first 1.2 tonnes leave the island was important for us. It showed that the waste we collect and sort here has value and can be sold. We hope this encourages more families in Pasir Panjang to start sorting their waste and take part in the waste bank.” — Waldi, Director of Pasir Panjang Waste Bank.

The shipment followed several weeks of hands-on support provided by UNDP and the West Manggarai Government. The waste bank received technical guidance on how to operate the bank, including receiving and recording household deposits, sorting and storing materials, and arranging sales. They were also connected with an offtaker in mainland Labuan Bajo.

For Pasir Panjang, getting recyclables to market is not as simple as collecting them. The village is on an island, so materials need to be transported to the mainland before they can be sold. The cost of that journey matters. If the waste bank is to keep operating, the income from selling recyclables needs to cover transportation and other operating costs, while still giving households a reason to keep sorting and depositing their waste.

The first shipment therefore also tested whether the waste bank could connect households to a functioning market — an important step towards making recycling a regular, community-run activity rather than a one-off project.

Pasir Panjang Village’s Waste Bank was developed as a unit of Bank Sampah G-LINGKO, which was established earlier with the Environmental Office of Manggarai Barat. G-LINGKO has an institutional structure, business processes and operating procedures for managing a waste bank, which are now being applied at the community level in Pasir Panjang Village.

For the community members running the bank, this has meant taking on roles they had never had before. They are learning to keep track of what each household brings in, sort and store recyclable materials, organise collections and build relationships with buyers. Little by little, they are turning the waste bank from a place to drop off recyclables into a community-run system with the skills and connections to keep it going.

The work is part of UNDP’s Plastic Circularity Project, supported by The Coca-Cola Foundation. In Labuan Bajo, the project is working with the District Government of Manggarai Barat, communities and local partners to  make the waste system work better, from improving collection and recycling to strengthening the information needed to understand where waste comes from and where it goes.

In this island, the work covers four locations: Pasir Panjang Village, G-LINGKO Waste Bank, the Waterfront Harbour and Warloka Landfill.

At the Waterfront Harbour, waste handed over by tourism vessels is weighed and recorded. At Warloka Landfill, waste arriving by collection trucks is recorded using a weighing system repaired with support from the project. Recyclable materials recovered by Penyelamat Lingkungan (waste picker) and taken out of the landfill are also recorded.

With technical support from DUITIN Indonesia, information from these locations is being captured through digital traceability. This will give the Environmental Office a clearer picture of waste flows in Labuan Bajo — including waste handed over by vessels at the Waterfront, materials collected through the waste banks, and waste entering and recyclable materials leaving Warloka Landfill.

But technology is only part of the solution. Before the data can be useful, people need to know what to record, how to record it and who is responsible. That is why the project is also helping staff and community members develop simple workflows and procedures they can use in their day-to-day work using digital tool.

“Waste management cannot be addressed at only one point. What happens in the community, at the harbour, at the waste bank and at the landfill is connected. Having better data from these different locations will help us understand the whole system and make better decisions for Labuan Bajo.” — Vinsensius Gande, Head of Environmental Office, Manggarai Barat. 

The work brings together the District Government of Manggarai Barat, local communities, DUITIN Indonesia and UNDP’s Investing in the Komodo Dragon and Other Globally Threatened Species in Flores (INFLORES) project, implemented with the Ministry of Forestry.  While INFLORES works with communities to advance sustainable ecotourism and conservation across Flores, this collaboration recognises a simple reality: healthy ecosystems and thriving tourism depend on a clean environment.

For the people of Pasir Panjang Village, change begins with something simple: separating recyclable materials at home and bringing them to the waste bank. On 4 September, that small habit became a tangible step towards a more circular system.

It is only a beginning, but one that shows what plastic circularity can look like when communities, government and partners work together, turning everyday actions into the first steps towards lasting change for both people and the places they call home. 

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Written by: Jatu Arum Sari

Edited by: Nabilla Rahmani