"Today, we are proud to say that one out of every three bottles on the Indonesian market today is made from 100 percent rPET (recycled) plastic, made locally at Amandina Bumi Nusantara, the recycling plant set up by our bottling partner Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Indonesia with Dynapack Asia," said Julio Lopez, president director of Coca-Cola Indonesia. "Our bottles have more value than the first use because they can be used over and over again, helping to support a closed loop circular economy."

The “closed loop” circular economy model is one of the pillars the company uses to achieve its vision of a World Without Waste, which includes a goal to use at least 50 percent recycled plastic in its packaging by 2030, and an ambition to help collect the equivalent of every can and bottle sold by 2030.

Amandani Bumi Nusantara, in Bekasi regency, West Java, also collaborates with Mahija Parahita Nusantara, a nonprofit social foundation founded by the same two organizations. The foundation supports the creation of collection infrastructure through the development of collection micro enterprises and is centered on social enterprises and community support. Mahija Parahita Nusantara provides raw materials for recycling facilities and empowers informal scavenger communities with stable jobs and opens access to social services. In the eyes of the company, they call scavengers “recycling heroes”.

“We have managed to prove that if we want to display the collection of plastic bottles from recycling heroes, we can do it by applying the principles of responsibility and human rights. So if, for example, this can be achieved together, surely their welfare can be improved, unlike what we are currently seeing,” said Lucia Karina, director of public affairs, communications and sustainability, Indonesia and PNG Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, on the goals of the establishment of Amandina Mahija.

To further celebrate this launch, the Coca-Cola company held a two-day event at Piazza, Gandaria City Mall, on Friday and Saturday. This interesting and informative event featured a variety of activities designed to inspire broader public action toward a circular economy and sustainable living.

The event served as a platform for the company to educate the public on sustainability, circularity, as well as show its commitment to those values. In addition to discussion sessions, the event highlights included a 360° video featuring a "Bottle to Bottle" journey in an immersive room and several #JagaIndonesia concerts, with live performances by RAN and Padi Reborn.

“The government has this ministerial regulation, [Environment and Forestry Ministry Regulation No. 75/2019], which talks about a road map of waste reduction from the producer’s side. I think that’s one regulation, but it needs to be more comprehensive from where we look at it. It means that as a producer we need to specifically know how to contribute to reduce waste, to manage our waste sustainably. Aside from producers, I think we need to look at a larger ecosystem. It’s not only producers, it’s also consumers, academia, government and everyone who needs to play their role,” said Triyono Prijosoesilo, director of public affairs, communications and sustainability.

At the entrance of the event was a giant Coca-Cola bottle that contained thousands of Coca-Cola bottles, which were to be transferred to the recycling plant. To bring more awareness, the company incentivized those who brought 10 or more used plastic bottles from various Coca-Cola Indonesia products to exchange them for #JagaIndonesia Concert tickets. By the second day, they had collected over 6,000 bottles.

“For us actually, the principle is that we should not wait until the worst impact comes to us, we should prevent it before it comes to us. What we do at Europacific Partners Indonesia is not related to numbers. If it's only numbers, we just train the person only depending on the money we give. If we focus on a certain number, for example 24 collection centers, we help them to develop the collection centers, to become truly responsible collection centers, to implement human rights, they help to educate scavengers and recycling heroes and their families, it becomes much better. Because it's getting bigger,” said Karina.

Along with Karina and Triyono, the event was also attended by Kirsten van Zandwijk, sustainability and partnership director, ASEAN and South Pacific, and Yayan Sopian, public affairs, communications and sustainability for the West Indonesia region.

“I think it is an example of what you can achieve in a very complex country, because we know we’re not there yet, with what we have established now, and we know Indonesia is big with a lot of islands and a lot of remote areas. So how I look at it from the sidelines, basically, is that you have to start somewhere, where you have all the ingredients to build an ecosystem and approve the concept and work from there in order to see how you can scale it nationally, and I think it’s an amazing example, just starting somewhere where you have all the partners in place, infrastructure in place and extend it from there based on the needs of the market,” said Kirsten.

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