Waste Management Poses New Challenge for Prabowo's Free Meal Program

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House Member on education commission, Ledia Hanifa Amaliah, found several schools facing challenges in managing waste from the free nutritious meal program. 

She mentioned that the challenges arose due to the ineffective and slow waste management system, both at the schools and in the respective region.

"Several schools have voiced concerns over this," Ledia said in a written statement received by Tempo on Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Ledia also mentioned the growing waste due to frequent misunderstandings between schools and the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Units (SPPG) on free meal distribution. These misunderstandings, which include delivering more food as compared to the number of students present at school, often lead to a surplus in meal packages. 

"Leftover foods not consumed by students subsequently cause new issues for the schools," said the PKS politician.

Other than waste management, Ledia noted in her inspection that the free nutritious meal program is needed more in the remote, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions of Indonesia.

These regions record numerous cases of stunting and malnutrition, which calls for accelerated nutrition fulfillment. Therefore, she suggested the government focus the free nutritious meal program in 3T regions, or areas where the majority of students come from low- to middle-income families.

"This would be more effective and efficient in terms of budget," she added.

Prior to this, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry stated that the potential food waste from the free meal program depends on several factors, such as the scale of the program, the number of beneficiaries, distribution efficiency, consumer behavior, and operational actors in the field.

Meanwhile, the head of the National Nutrition Body, Dadan Hindayana, stated that the food waste from the free nutritious meal program will be processed into compost.

"(Regarding the waste) it is an integral part of the program's ecosystem. It will be collected and then processed into compost, ensuring its continued utilization," said Dadan via a brief message on Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Expert staff at the Presidential Communication Office, Prita Laura, urged the public to view food waste from the free meal program as a business opportunity that contributes to the local economic turnover.

Irsyan Hasyim and Hanin Marwah contributed to the writing of this article

Editor’s Choice: We Cannot Manage the Missing Food That We Cannot Measure

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