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RI seeks to block curbs on raw plastic production
The Industry Ministry, as well as plastic manufacturers and analysts, says the proposal could disturb a local ecosystem already bruised by imports.
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People walk through Terowongan 4444 (4444 tunnel), an artwork built with plastic bottles collected from rivers at the plastic museum constructed by Indonesia's environmental activist group Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (ECOTON) in Gresik regency near Surabaya, East Java, on Sept. 28, 2021. (AFP/Prasto Wardoyo)
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ndonesia’s delegation looks set to curb ambitions at an upcoming global forum on plastic pollution amid concern that some of the plans could harm local industries.
Ahead of the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2) on plastic pollution to be held in Paris from May 29 to June 2, countries vary in their response to plastic waste.
The United States, Saudi Arabia and other major plastic producers prefer national strategies, Reuters reported last week, while the so-called High Ambition Coalition consisting of Norway, Rwanda, New Zealand and the European Union is calling for global targets to reduce the production of raw material for plastic-based products and eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
That proposal has raised concern from the Industry Ministry, local manufacturers and energy analysts, who say it would hamper Indonesia’s plastic industry that is already contending with a flood of imported products.
Ignatius Warsito, chemical, pharmaceutical and textile industries acting director general at the ministry, said the government would try to block the proposal for cutting virgin plastic production.
"We have been instructed by the industry minister to guard the virgin plastic [issue] in [the INC-2] in France. How can the world stop or reduce [the output of] plastic factories while it's impossible to not use plastic?" Ignatius said on Tuesday, as quoted by news agency Antara.
Should the proposal be accepted, the ministry and industry players worry, it could hamper three big petrochemical projects to be implemented by PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical, PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara and PT Pertamina by 2027. All are upstream suppliers for the plastics industry.
