Plastic-recycling business strives to survive

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 02/25/2008 12:02 PM  |  City

RARE DISPLAY: Members of a recycling business center display their products in Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta. Market accessibility and promotion are the main hurdles in the business. (JP/Triwik Kurniasari)

Ela, 48, carefully arranged and stitched together pieces of plastic cut from containers originally intended for dish soap.

She watched the green and yellow plastic as it slowly turned into a woman's handbag.

Ela, who is a tailor in Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta, said sewing plastic is harder than cloth.

"Sewing plastic requires extra care because it's so slippery and stiff. The sewing has to be neat and straight. Otherwise, it looks awful because the flaws are easier to see," Ela said Friday.

Together with neighbors, Ela is running a small recycling business. The women collect waste plastic and turn it into shopping bags, purses, hats and laptop bags.

She works for Istari Wahyu who coordinates residents from various community units in the area in a recycling business initiated by Unilever Indonesia Foundation, part of the corporation's two-year-old Jakarta Green and Clean program.

"I had been interested in plastic recycling for a long time, but I didn't know how to do it. I got training from Unilever and then I started this business," said Istari, 47, who also has a catering business.

Ela and Istari look at used dish soap pouches differently now.

"We used to be ignorant about the danger of plastic waste. We didn't know it could be recycled either," said Ela.

Istari and her neighbors collect plastic waste and store it. Then they clean, disinfect and cut it into pieces.

Istari said she and her neighbors invested around Rp 10 million (US$1,100) in the business -- enough to buy three sewing machines. Unilver gave them a fourth machine.

To produce a small handbag of consistent color and pattern takes around 50 plastic pouches and they aren't always easy to find.

Women pay Rp 75,000 for a large bag while a small purse costs Rp 10,000. There is a range of sizes and prices in between.

"The prices may be a bit high because making the bags is rather complicated and we don't have mass production," Istari said.

The handbags are an attractive alternative to the plastic waste that litters the city. It takes 200 to 1,000 years for some plastic materials to decompose. Burning plastic household waste is common enough, but it produces fumes hazardous to human health.

According to the Jakarta Sanitation Agency, the city's 10 million population produces about 27,000 cubic meters or 6,000 tons of waste every day, about 60 percent of it household trash.

Some 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year around the world, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

However, the East Jakarta start-up is making more bags than they can sell, at present.

Most buyers are neighborhood women, although the entrepreneurs also participate in bazaars.

In Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, a cottage industry patterned on the same model is also facing marketing problems.

Recycling business facilitator Heriyanti said it was hard to sell the products for more than Rp 50,000.

"But we are optimistic we will be able to sell more. Besides, Unilever promises to help us to find companies which want to buy the products," said Yanti.

Unilever external communications manager Nurulita Novi Arlaida said the products seemed a good fit for "middle-upper economic classes" and that Unilver would like to see them promoted at shopping centers. (trw)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.