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Jakarta delays ban on single-use plastic bags
Unsustainable: A woman carries plastic bags containing her purchases from a mini market in the Radio Dalam area, South Jakarta, on Tuesday
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nsustainable: A woman carries plastic bags containing her purchases from a mini market in the Radio Dalam area, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.(JP/Iqbal Yuwansyah)
In December, the Jakarta administration was confident that it would finally issue a regulation as early as possible in January to limit the circulation of single-use plastic bags as part of its efforts to curtail mounting plastic waste.
However, the much anticipated move has been put on hold as Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan demanded a revision to the draft of a Gubernatorial Regulation proposed to him by the Jakarta Environment Agency.
Agency head Isnawa Adji previously said the draft was ready and expected to take effect this month. The regulation would stipulate fines of up to Rp 25 million (US$1,768) for retailers and vendors at traditional markets that provide single-use plastic bags for their customers.
According to the plan, in the first six months of 2019, the agency will educate and carry out an awareness campaign at retailers, traditional markets, schools and other places to prohibit the use of plastic bags.
Anies, however, said a major revision was needed before he would sign the regulation. He did not elaborate further, but noted that one of the crucial issues was the provision of a substitute material to replace the plastic bag. If the regulation did not stipulate a substitution, Anies argued that many sectors would be affected, particularly housewives who were reliant on plastic bags when shopping.
“There will be some revisions, but we remain confident that [the regulation] will be legalized this month,” agency deputy head Djafar Muchlisin told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.
To provide a substitute, he said the administration would cooperate with companies to provide environmentally friendly bags, such as those made of cassava. The administration would also invite small and medium sized businesses to supply food containers made of bamboo to replace those of Styrofoam, which takes a long time to decompose.
Djafar said he was convinced the supply would meet the demand of Jakartans.
The agency has also cooperated with city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya to encourage vendors at 153 traditional markets under the operator to ban single-use plastic bags and exchange their plastic bags for green bags.
Out of 25 million tons of waste produced a year in Jakarta, 357,000 tons is plastics waste, half of which ends up at a final dump site.
Calls have long mounted for the administration to take steps to address the issue since the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, will reach full capacity within the next few years.
Some untreated waste continues to pollute rivers, which exacerbates floods in the city during rainy season.
Environmentalists also found that plastic from Jakarta and the surrounding areas has damaged the marine ecosystem in Thousand Islands waters.
A move to ban single-use plastic bags has been initiated by the Bogor administration in West Java, in the southern part of Greater Jakarta, through the issuance of a regulation prohibiting retailers from providing single-use plastic bags to their customers.
Despite plaudits from the public and environmentalists, the Jakarta administration’s move has drawn opposition from the Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association (INAPLAS) and the Indonesian Retail Business Association (Aprindo).
Aprindo deputy chairman Tutum Rahanta said the administration needed to provide a tangible solution before enforcing such a regulation. He suggested that plastic bags needed to be reduced, not banned, adding that law enforcement against those who litter should be strengthened.
Tutum, who claimed that members of his association used standardized plastics that are environmentally friendly, also said consumers would be heavily affected by the planned regulation.
“We have said this a couple of times; limitation is OK, but there should be an alternative. How could the administration directly tell people not to use plastic bags?” he said.
The environment agency previously claimed that residents mostly agreed with the plan to issue a policy restricting plastic bag use, according to a survey commissioned by the agency.
“Nearly 80 percent of people surveyed agreed with a plastic bag ban and were also willing to take their own bags while shopping,” the agency’s waste management division head Rahmawati said.
