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Message in a bottle: Could a deposit boost recycling in RI?
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Sea of trash: A beach cleanup is ongoing at Bali’s Kuta Beach in April. Indonesia is one of the largest marine plastic polluters. (Antara/Fikri Yusuf)
B
ottle deposit schemes are used in numerous countries to make recycling more cost efficient. Some experts say they could boost waste collection in Indonesia, too, but others prefer to build on existing waste management concepts.
A bottle deposit is a small fee customers pay with every bottled beverage they buy, but which they get back when they return the empty container to a collection point. From there, empty containers are sent in bulk to recycling facilities.
Alliance of Zero Waste Indonesia (AZWI) steering committee member Abdul Ghofar said such a scheme served as “a catalyst” for people to return packaging and would be easy to adopt in developing countries.
"It makes sense to implement a cashback scheme in Indonesia," said Ghofar while pointing out that the implementation of deposit schemes varied among countries.
In Germany’s Pfand system, a deposit is placed on a wide range of single-use beverage packaging encompassing plastic or glass bottles as well as aluminum cans. Consumers can return the containers either to the place of purchase or to another vendor. Reverse vending machines often automate the reimbursement.
Ghofar pointed out that deposit schemes for some reusable containers already existed in Indonesia, namely for gas cylinders and for the 19-liter bottles used in water dispensers across the country.
As for single-use containers, he argued such a policy would contradict the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s commitment to achieving zero waste by 2050. AZWI campaigns for abandoning plastic altogether.
