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View all search resultsMost regions failing to enforce single-use plastic bans: Report
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A becak (pedicab) driver delivers fish packed in plastic bags to vendors on Oct. 9, 2025, at a traditional fish market in Surabaya, East Java. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
M
ost cities and regencies in Indonesia are failing to enforce single-use plastic restrictions, a situation worsened by inadequate monitoring systems and budgets needed to meet the national target of phasing out the use of plastics by 2030, a new report has found.
The report, published in late January by nonprofit Dietplastik Indonesia, formerly known as Diet Kantong Plastik (Plastic Bag Diet) movement, analyzed 101 regulations restricting throwaway plastics, such as shopping bags, food containers, cups and bottles, that were issued in 27 out of 38 provinces across the country.
Most regulations take the form of city- or regency-level bylaws, while only a small portion are gubernatorial decrees, such as those issued in Jakarta, Bali and Riau. Dietplastik also surveyed consumers, businesses and regional administrations in its research.
Researchers found that despite almost all regions in Indonesia employing disposable plastic bans as early as 2018, public and business compliance remained low.
In some locations, such as Jakarta, Bali, Bogor city in West Java and Kediri city in East Java, the report found between 55 and 70 percent of businesses complied with the regulations, while the public lagged further at only 40 to 65 percent.
In Bali, the first province to enact the ban in 2019, the report found that vendors at traditional markets still offered disposable plastic bags to customers, though the regulation was able to reduce plastic bag use in modern retailers by half.
A similar trend was observed in Jakarta, where its restriction had slashed plastic bag use by 80 percent within the first six months of plastic ban adoption in early 2020, but it ultimately faltered due to poor oversight.
