While some cities across the archipelago have issued regional regulations to reduce the use of plastic to cut down on plastic waste, Jakarta and the central government have yet to take real action against plastic waste.

Therefore, in an antiplastic parade during Car Free Day on Sunday, environmentalists brought along a 4-meter-high anglerfish replica made out of plastic waste to push for more concrete action to address the plastic waste crisis.

Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement founder Tiza Mafira said the plastic monster represented the unseen issue of single-use plastic waste. She added that producers and corporations should be responsible and rethink the concept of single-use plastic as it “does not make sense”. Plastic was made from durable material that could last decades and should not only be used once, she said.

The plastic waste used to make the plastic monster weighed 500 kilograms and was found in the seas of Bali.

Jakarta alone produces 2,400 tons of plastic waste out of its 7,000 tons of waste produced daily.

The parade gathered 49 environmental organizations including the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), EcoNusa, Pandu Laut Nusantara and the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement, as well as 1,211 participants including Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti. It was said to be the biggest antiplastic parade in the capital. The participants marched from Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to the National Monument in Central Jakarta.

They demanded the government ban single-use plastic products nationwide and improve the waste management system. They also urged producers and business entities to take responsibility to handle plastic waste generated from their products.

During her oration, Susi emphasized the fact that Indonesia was the second biggest contributor of plastic waste in the world and talked about the dangers of plastic waste.

“We have been consuming plastic through the fish we eat. Do we want that? No!” she shouted to the crowd.

One of the participants of the parade, Novian, 25, said she had joined the campaign because she was concerned about plastic waste.

“I found out about this event through social media and decided to take part. I have tried to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags by carrying my reusable shopping bag and I no longer use plastic straws,” she said.

Another participant, Fikri, 19, concurred saying that he realized that plastic waste was a pressing issue, hence he started to carry his own tumbler so that he did not need to buy bottled water.

Separately, WALHI Jakarta executive director Tubagus Soleh Ahmadi said the Jakarta administration needed to address this issue immediately by issuing its own version of a plastic ban.

“We want Governor Anies Baswedan to sign the plastic ban decree,” he said.

Jakarta’s plastic ban regulation was drafted last year following Bogor and Bekasi, West Java, which had issued their own regulations in December 2018 and March 2019 respectively.

However, the draft has not been signed by the Jakarta governor, who requested a revision to the draft.

Tubagus also questioned whether the administration was afraid of a backlash from plastic producers if they decided to pass the bylaw, as the Bogor administration in West Java was sued by the Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association (Inaplas) in April for issuing a single-use plastic bag ban regulation in December last year.

Inaplas deemed the regulation to conflict with an existing law that only pushes for better plastic waste management, not banning its use. (eyc)

Valerie Halim, an intern at The Jakarta Post, contributed to this story

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