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Creating industrial ecosystem for plastic recycling
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(The Jakarta Post)
I
ndonesia has a plastic waste problem that has already been raised in numerous articles and discussions. Plastic waste is currently a global problem and product of our modern lifestyle and industrial society.
The latest data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry revealed that 64 million tons of waste is generated annually across the archipelago and about 15 percent of the waste is plastic. Furthermore, the ministry revealed that about 60 percent of the waste generated is transported to a final disposal site while only 10 percent gets recycled.
From the policymakers’ perspective, the government has actually responded to this issue quite swiftly, issuing Presidential Regulation No. 97/2017 on the national policy and strategy for the management of household and other kinds of waste.
Translated into action, the regulation demands the participation of city and regency administrations to implement the waste management principles known as reduce, reuse and recycle (3R). With this collective action nationwide, Indonesia has set a target to reduce its waste by 30 percent by 2025.
To support the mission toward managing our waste better, a lot of industrial players and regions have already taken part in implementing the principles of what people today call the circular economy (CE) concept. The concept revolves around the collective attempt among different elements of society to minimize the amount of waste production, while prolonging the utilization cycle of materials.
For instance, not only are producers striving to use more biodegradable and renewable materials in their operations, but semiformal sector players across the country have already pioneered the establishment of bank sampah (waste banks) and material recovery facilities (MRF) to tackle the plastic waste problem under the CE concept.
Yet, many observers say that the relevant stakeholders across Indonesia still have to develop a strong industrial ecosystem to bolster the efficacy of plastic recycling initiatives, which comprise a big chunk of many CE initiatives.
For instance, professor of environmental engineering Enri Damanhuri, who specializes in waste issues, says that Indonesia is different from European countries as well as other industrial Asian countries like Japan, Singapore and South Korea as the country had yet to fully establish waste collection and transportation service infrastructure before putting the 3R and CE principles into place.
But the chances for this to happen are there, if you are a relevant stakeholder who has an interest in contributing more to CE creation in Indonesia, particularly in terms of plastic waste management.
Whether you are a private sector employee, non-governmental organization activist working on the environment, a university student/researcher focusing on industrial or environmental issues, or a member of the general public who wishes to manage your household better, you might be interested in tuning into the second episode of The Jakarta Post’s JakPost UpClose webinar series on the CE.
The webinar, called “Establishing Best Practices of Plastic Recycling”, will be conducted on Wednesday, Dec. 9 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., brought to you in collaboration with PT Coca-Cola Indonesia.
The webinar will feature knowledgeable speakers who will brief you on the latest industrial ecosystem developments in terms of promoting the CE, specifically in plastic recycling.
They speakers are: Industry Ministry downstream chemical and pharmaceutical industry director Muhammad Taufiq, waste management provider Sustainable Waste Indonesia director Dini Trisyanti, PT Coca-Cola Indonesia public affairs and communications director Triyono Prijosoesilo (also the secretary general of the Packaging and Recycling Association for Indonesia’s Sustainable Environment [PRAISE]), as well as Indonesian Plastic Recyclers secretary- general Wilson Pandhika.
The webinar is a follow-up to a previous one under the CE series with PT Coca-Cola Indonesia, titled “Protecting the Environment through Recycling”, conducted on Dec. 4.
Each of these speakers will present you in-depth insider views on what is currently going on inside different industries and the challenges faced by both the industries and policymakers to achieve a sound industrial ecosystem for plastic recycling.
By listening to these different stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities that each sector has, you can also get a clearer picture on how they can better synchronize their strategies and actions to improve the industrial ecosystem for the CE in Indonesia for more effective and efficient plastic-waste recycling endeavors.
The webinar will be hosted by two Post journalists, Ramadani Saputra and Vela Andapita, and it will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation in Indonesian. You can register for free via bit.ly/jp-webinar25.
