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Indonesia’s top F&B plastic polluters join forces toward circular economy
Indonesia accumulates about 1.3 million tons of plastic waste every year, of which 70 percent goes to landfills.
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Trash talk: Danone Aqua director for sustainable development Karyanto Wibowo (left), Danone Aqua president director Corine Tap (second left), Ocean Cleanup founder and CEO Boyan Slat (third left) and the Netherlands Ambassador to Indonesia Lambert Grijns converse during a visit to the Interceptor 001 plastic waste processing plant in Cengkareng, Muara Kapuk, North Jakarta, on Thursday. (JP/Donny Fernando)
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ajor food and beverage (F&B) companies named the country’s top plastic polluters are driving the transition to a circular economy, by boosting their recycling efforts to reduce plastic packaging waste at landfills in Indonesia, the world’s second largest marine polluter.
Instant noodle producer PT Indofood Sukses Makmur and publicly listed food company PT Mayora Indah, as well as F&B multinationals Danone Indonesia and Coca-Cola Indonesia, are among the companies that have established programs for recycling and processing their plastic packaging into other products like pallets and building material.
“We are also working with restaurants [and food stalls that sell] Indomie [instant noodle] to recycle their packaging waste,” Indofood corporate communications head Stefanus Indrayana said on Nov. 11 during a discussion on post-consumer packaging at the Indonesian Circular Economy Forum.
A circular economy is an economic system that encourages producers and consumers to keep products and materials in use for as long as possible to derive as much value from them, with the goal of preventing their ending up in a landfill.
Indonesia accumulates about 1.3 million tons of plastic waste every year, of which 70 percent goes to landfills, 15 percent ends up in rivers and oceans and only about 10 to 15 percent is recycled.
Read also: For Indonesian enterprises, green is the new black
Indofood, Danone and Mayora are the top three producers of plastic waste in Indonesia, according to The Brand Audit Report 2019 by Break Free from Plastic, a global movement to eliminate plastic pollution.
