Published : 08 Sep 2026, 05:46 AM
Updated : 16 Sep 2026, 11:48 AM
A massive landfill fire that burned for 10 days in Indonesia in July has highlighted a pollution crisis that scientists say has become part of daily life, with millions of people routinely burning their rubbish and releasing tiny plastic particles into the air.
“We are breathing microplastics,” Muhammad Reza Cordova, a senior scientist at Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency, told the New York Times.
The Jatiwaringin landfill blaze sent smoke and plastic fragments across surrounding areas, where hundreds of people were later treated for acute respiratory infections.
Fires break down plastic waste into microscopic particles that can be inhaled or enter the environment.
Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm, while even tinier nanoplastics can enter human blood and tissue, the NYT reported.
Researchers have found plastic particles in human brains, breast milk, and even amniotic fluid.
Indonesia has the world's highest level of microplastic ingestion, according to a 2024 Cornell University study, which estimated that people consume an average of 15g of plastic particles each month, NYT reported.
The country also ranks among the world's highest for airborne microplastics.
Plastic pollution has become a global concern, but Indonesia's location between two major oceans gives the problem consequences beyond its borders.
The country is a major seafood exporter, and researchers have found microplastics in fish and marine animals caught in Indonesian waters.
Scientists are still working to understand the full effects of microplastics on human health.
A 2024 study in The New England Journal of Medicine found an association between microplastics in artery plaque and a higher risk of heart attack, stroke or death, though researchers say such studies do not prove causation.
“I have no doubt that microplastics are causes of disease, that they are causes of premature death,” Dr Philip Landrigan, a global health expert at Boston College, was quoted as saying by the NYT.
Other scientists say more research is needed to determine what levels of exposure are harmful.
“It’s solid advice to limit exposure,” Kevin Thomas, an environmental health scientist at the University of Queensland, told the NYT.
A 2023 health ministry survey found that about 57 percent of Indonesian households burn their rubbish, despite the practice being illegal, compared with a global average of 14 percent.
Poor waste collection outside major cities leaves millions with few alternatives, while cheap plastic sachets used for everyday products add to growing mountains of rubbish. Large landfills have also become fire hazards, with methane gas trapped beneath piles of waste increasing the risk.
Environmental group Ecoton has detected airborne microplastics in 18 Indonesian cities. The government has set a 2027 deadline to phase out open dumping, but environmentalists doubt the target will be met, according to the NYT.
Synthetic clothing is another major source. Washing machines shed microscopic plastic fibres into wastewater, which often flows directly into drains, streams, and rivers in Indonesia because of limited wastewater treatment facilities.
When waterways dry, the fibres can be carried into the air and later washed back to the ground by rain. Ecoton found that synthetic fibres account for nearly half of the microplastic pollution detected in 68 Indonesian rivers.
Jakarta is expanding its wastewater treatment network, while the government plans to collect data on microplastics in the country's air, food, and water and share it with the World Health Organization.
