Producers reminded to treat unrecyclable packaging

Adianto P. Simamora ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 11/05/2009 10:04 AM  |  National

The government has warned producers to phase out packaging that cannot be recycled naturally as waste management law enforcement is expected to take place by next year.

The office of the State Environment Minister said the government regulations needed to implement the 2008 Waste Management Law were expected to be completed in December.

“Once the law is enforced, it is not enough for the producers only to change plastic packaging into bags labelled eco-friendly products,” deputy assistant on the domestic waste management at the office Tri Bangun Sony told reporters on Wednesday.

He said under the law producers would be required to collect unrecyclable packaging from the community in order to help protect the environment.

“Many producers have yet to take any action to manage their garbage. The producers of noodles, for example, produce about 11 billion plastic wrappers but no actions have been taken to retrieve them from the environment. It is detrimental to the environment,” he said.

Tri made the remarks in a media briefing organized by Tetra Pak, the world’s leading food packaging company, which operates in more than 150 countries, including in Indonesia.

Communication director of Tetra Pak Indonesia Mignonne Maramis Akiyama said the company used renewable resources, such as wood fibers as raw materials for packaging cartons of food.

“But no wood from Indonesian forests are used as raw materials for packaging,” she said.

Tetra Pak Indonesia, which has set up three recycling centers in East Java, Jakarta and West Java, supplied about 1.5 billion packaging wrappers last year.

The State Environment Ministry said the law needed at least 12 supporting regulations in order to be implemented and enforced.

The waste management law requires producers to manage packaging that cannot be recycled by nature, including plastics used for noodle or cosmetic products, styrofoam and diapers.

It also obliges companies to use recyclable materials and provide labels containing information about garbage reduction and management of their products.

The law promotes the reuse, recycling and recovery of both household garbage and waste such as solid hazardous materials.

It also bans the importation of household and solid hazardous waste into the country.

Intentional violations of the regulations could result in prison sentences of between four and 10 years and fines of between Rp 100 million (US$10,870) and Rp 5 billion.

People who break these laws also face between five and 15 years in prison and fines of between Rp 100 million and Rp 5 billion if their violations result in death.

Many in the community said people had no alternative to unrecycable packaging, causing the amount of waste dumped into landfills to continue to increase.

Data from the State Environment Ministry showed that domestic waste remained the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia, largely because the majority of the nation’s dumps are poorly managed and also because of the widespread use of improper disposal systems.

It said that 60 percent of the 170 cities surveyed still rely on unmanaged dump sites.

The poor management of waste treatment would release methane gas, a gas that is proven to accelerate global warming and climate change.      

From the around 45 million cubic meters of garbage dumped annually, mostly from metropolitan cities, Indonesia could be producing around 520,000 tons of methane.

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