Indonesia is battling a growing food waste crisis. According to the UN’s 2024 Food Waste Index, households throw away around 14.73 million tonnes of food annually, the best level in Southeast Asia.
On average, each Indonesian throws away about 53 kilograms a 12 months, and most of it results in overflowing landfills equivalent to Sarimukti in West Java, where half of the every day waste volume is food.
Left unmanaged, waste decomposes and in a brief time period releases methane – a greenhouse gas 86 times more powerful than CO₂. However, what appears to be an environmental burden may very well be an untapped energy asset: biogas.
What is biogas?
Biogas is created when organic materials – equivalent to food scraps, animal waste or crop residues – decompose in an oxygen-free environment.
As a results of anaerobic fermentation, bacteria transform waste into a mix of gases dominated by methane (50-70%) and carbon dioxide. This biogas, captured in biodigesters, could be used for cooking, generating electricity or converted into renewable natural gas for vehicles.
The remaining solids, called digestate, usually are not useless in any respect. They could be reused in organic fertilizer, reducing reliance on costly chemicals.
For Indonesia – a rustic still depending on imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – biogas is a domestic, renewable alternative.
How much biogas is produced from 1 kg of food waste?
Kitchen scraps – wealthy in carbohydrates, proteins and fats – are amongst essentially the most effective raw materials for biogas production.
A study conducted by the Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering in Navi Mumbai shows that only one kilogram of food waste can produce about 0.3 cubic meters of biogas. For comparison, Energypedia notes that one kilogram of LPG is roughly comparable to 2.1 cubic meters of biogas, which implies that the gas produced from one kilogram of food waste is roughly comparable to 0.14 kilograms of LPG.
The same research also shows that biogas from food waste is rather more efficient than that from animal waste, because one kilogram of leftovers can produce as much gas as 40 kilograms of cow dung. In other words, what may appear to be a small pile of kitchen scraps actually has more energy potential than a much larger pile of manure.
When scaled up, the potential becomes much more impressive. In several areas of Yogyakarta, equivalent to the cities of Yogyakarta, Sleman and Bantul – collectively often known as Kartamantul – roughly 120 tons of food waste are collected daily. This amount could generate over 13,000 cubic meters of biogas per day, enough to power 1000’s of furnaces or supply electricity to entire communities.
How much does biogas production cost?
Globally, the fee of biogas production ranges from US$2 to US$20 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), with the typical cost being around US$9 in Southeast Asia. For comparison, MMBtu is roughly the usual unit of energy commonly used for natural gas comparable to the energy produced by burning 28 cubic meters of natural gas.
Of this total cost, most – between 70 and 95 percent – is spent on constructing biodigesters, while the raw material is commonly available at very low price and even without cost. In fact, in lots of cases, waste producers are willing to pay for the removal of organic residues, giving biogas operators a “negative cost” advantage when it comes to feedstocks.
While the initial infrastructure investment, particularly when adding electricity generation, remains to be significant, the long-term advantages are clear. For example, landfill gas recovery systems can produce biogas for lower than $3 per MMBtu, making it probably the most cost-competitive renewable energy options available.
Work and economic potential
Compared to LPG, the economics of energy consumption are convincing. While LPG provides 49.51 MJ/kg, biogas with a methane content of 70% provides roughly 35 MJ/kg, which is roughly 70% of the energy value of LPG.
At an LPG price of Rp 80,000 per 12 kg cylinder (roughly Rp 7,000/kg), a house biodigester producing 6 Nm3 of biogas per day (180 Nm3/month) could save as much as Rp 7.05 million ($422.50) per 12 months, or roughly Rp 600,000 (US)USD 35.85) per thirty days.
The economic advantages transcend reducing fuel costs for households. Biogas installations also convert waste into income.
The remaining digestate could be converted into nutrient-rich organic fertilizer using effective microorganisms, creating a further source of income for households and farmers. In this fashion, biogas not only saves money, but in addition adds value through the sale of compost.
Moreover, scaling up biogas infrastructure creates jobs. In the United States, for instance, estimates suggest that adding 13,500 latest biogas systems could generate greater than 335,000 construction jobs and 23,000 everlasting positions.
Indonesia, with its vast resources of organic raw materials – from palm oil sewage and animal excrement to household waste – has similar potential. Biogas development could open tens of 1000’s of green jobs across the archipelago, supporting each rural livelihoods and national energy goals.
There are currently just over 48,000 small digesters in operation in Indonesia, a modest number in comparison with the 42 million units in China. However, with a renewable energy goal of 23% by 2025, biogas is poised to not only increase energy resilience but in addition deliver broad economic and social advantages.
Why does biogas in Indonesia still struggle to scale?
Despite the guarantees, the introduction of biogas in Indonesia faces ongoing challenges. Firstly, biogas has not yet been included within the country’s basic energy strategy. Without a coherent national framework, development stays fragmented and lacks long-term direction.
Second, infrastructure gaps hinder progress. Systems for collecting, transporting and processing organic waste are still underdeveloped, especially outside pilot areas.
Third, inconsistent technology standards complicate implementation. Many small digesters produce unreliable results, undermining public confidence and deterring investment.
Overcoming these obstacles might be crucial, but with the correct combination of policy investment and innovation, biogas can fade from the margins and turn into one in every of Indonesia’s most promising tools for a sustainable future.
Sources:
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1209090/FULLTEXT02.pdf
https://www.iea.org/reports/outlook-for-biogas-and-biomamine-prospects-for-organic-growth/sustainable-supply-potential-and-costs
https://goodstats.id/article/indonesia-jadi-penghasil-sampah-makanan-terbesar-di-asean-7olEG
https://www.iea.org/reports/outlook-for-biogas-and-biomamine-prospects-for-organic-growth/sustainable-supply-potential-and-costs
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-biogasconverting-waste-to-energy
https://www.goodnewsfromindonesia.id/2025/02/14/potensi-hambatan-dan-solusi-pengembangan-energi-biogas-di-indonesia
https://www.ijert.org/a-review-on-bio-methane-production-using-kitchen-waste
https://distan.bulelengkab.go.id/informasi/detail/artikel/hematnya-menggunakan-biogas-99
https://energypedia.info/wiki/BLEENS_-_Biogaz,_Liquefied_Petroleum_Gas,_Electricity,_Ethanol ,_Natural_Gas,_and_Solar#:~:text=1%20L%20LPG%20=%201.05%20m3,LPG%20=%202.1%20m3%20of%20biogas
https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/glossary/mmbtu
