S ungai Watch may be known for removing plastic waste from Indonesia’s rivers, mangroves and coastlines — but what happens after collection is where the transformation truly begins.
With the opening of its largest sorting center to date, the Denpasar Sorting Facility in Bali, the organisation takes a significant step forward in scaling its impact. Designed to increase processing capacity and efficiency, the new facility introduces conveyor belt systems for the first time, doubling sorting output while enhancing material traceability and quality control.
Every day, intercepted waste is manually separated into more than 30 detailed categories based on type, quality and recyclability. Each batch is audited and logged, ensuring consistency, transparency and long-term data analysis. Only after washing, drying and preparation does the material move to the next stage of its lifecycle.
This is where Sungai Design enters the process.
Within its Bali-based workshop, plastic collected upstream by Sungai Watch is re-engineered into durable, design-led objects. Through heat-press techniques, plastic waste is transformed into solid sheets, then precision-cut using CNC technology into structured components. Skilled artisans polish and assemble each piece, merging craftsmanship with environmental responsibility.
The result is what the brand describes as circular craftsmanship — products built from river waste and designed to last, preventing materials from returning to landfills or waterways. Recent launches include pieces crafted from over 1,300 plastic bags combined with sustainably sourced teak, as well as collaborative designs integrating reclaimed chopsticks.
For Sungai, design is not a secondary story to cleanup — it is the continuation of it. Waste interception, sorting innovation and product creation form a closed-loop system where river pollution becomes functional, high-value material.
The Denpasar facility marks not only expanded capacity, but a deeper commitment to redefining how waste is valued — shifting from extraction to regeneration.
