Bali Residents Take to Burning Trash as Landfill Rules Change

The partial closure of a major landfill site on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali is forcing thousands of residents to instead burn trash in their yards, sparking widespread environmental and health concerns.

Suwung landfill, about 10 kilometers (six miles) northeast of Denpasar international airport, used to handle some 1,000 tons of rubbish a day. Authorities said it would stop taking organic waste as of April 1 as the site nears capacity and in an attempt to direct that matter instead to places where it can be composted or dealt with in a more appropriate way.