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'Back to Besek', NGO promotes ecofriendly container to support local economy, save environment
Using besek as an alternative food container can help sort waste issues and spur the local economy, according to an environmental NGO called Kehati.
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Qurban committees use besek (containers made of plaited bamboo) to store qurban (sacrificial) meat at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta. The mosque chose not to use plastic bags to distribute its qurban meat for this year's Idul Adha. (JP/Syelanita)
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em>Besek (containers made of plaited bamboo) can be the answer to the mounting waste issues facing the capital city, but it takes concerted awareness and efforts to push residents to shift from their reliance on plastic to the more ecofriendly containers that would benefit the environment and spur the residents’ economy, according to a non-governmental organization.
The Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Kehati) has aimed to promote besek as an alternative ecofriendly food container to styrofoam and single-use plastic in fast food restaurants and government meetings.
“Besek could be a much better alternative to styrofoam, which takes very long to degrade,” Basuki Rahmad from Kehati said recently.
He said the foundation planned to encourage Jakarta administration officials to use besek food containers instead of styrofoam during their meetings.
“If government officials are required to order foods from caterers that provides besek containers, a lot of caterers would be encouraged to provide the ecofriendly packaging.”
Basuki expressed hope that the city administration would also grant incentives for restaurants that serve their dish in besek by paying a fraction of their value-added tax (PPN).
“Currently restaurants are required to pay value-added tax at a 10 percent rate. But the city administration could pay 2.5 percent of the tax for restaurants that provide besek food containers so they would only need to pay the remaining 7.5 percent. Such a scheme could effectively persuade restaurants to use besek,” he said.
