Work

Integrated Waste Management and Green Jobs Ecosystem for Sustainable Rural Development: Adaptive Learning in a Community Biogas Program in Riau, Indonesia

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Most community biogas projects are judged on the day the digester is switched on. Far fewer ask what happens to the way people see their waste once the engineers leave. This study follows one program in Riau, Indonesia, where cattle manure, household waste and costly fuel had long been treated as separate problems, and asks how a biogas installation became the starting point of a different way of thinking: that almost anything left over can be turned into something of real value for many people. Drawing on group discussions, interviews, programme monitoring and an independent social return on investment study, we trace how new community groups formed around this idea, began to experiment with what the digester left behind, and learned to adapt their practice together. We suggest that the turning point lay less in the technology than in this shift of mindset, supported by facilitation designed to step back over time. We propose a pathway linking capability, enterprise and local ownership, read through the lens of creating shared value. The evidence comes from a single supported case, so the real test, whether the mindset outlasts the support, is still ahead.

Source: International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science

DOI: 10.47772/ijriss.2026.100900938

Authors: Syahrul Al Qadar, Dimas Wardani, Habibburahman, Faiz Rahmatullah

Institution: Pertamina (Indonesia)

Language: English

Topic: Waste Management and Recycling

Subfield: Waste Management and Disposal

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences