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'What are the alternatives?' Market vendors anxious over upcoming plastic ban in Jakarta
The regulation has been met with mixed reviews, including from vendors who say they need alternatives.
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Vendors put their products in single-use plastic bags at Senen Market, Central Jakarta, on July. 3, 2019. (Antara/Nova Wahyudi)
D
espite a recently issued regulation banning single-use plastic bags, vendors in several markets in Jakarta are still left with lingering questions about their business and services to customers as they claim alternatives have yet to be provided by the city administration.
Predi, 40, a plastic vendor at Cipete Market in South Jakarta, tends a kiosk selling various plastic products such as plastic cups, kresek (single-use plastic bags) and containers. He said that he was aware of the regulation and was worried about how it would impact his small business.
“I know about the rule since the head of the market has informed all vendors here. But what should I do with all of the plastics in my kiosk?,” Predi said on a recent Tuesday.
He said he was quite wary the new regulation might cause his small business to shut down. He said plastic bag distributors kept sending products to his kiosk, which made him wonder why there had been no effort to stop the distribution of plastic bags to small merchants like himself.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan issued Gubernatorial Regulation No. 142/2019 on eco-friendly bag use on Dec. 27, 2019. The regulation, which will take effect on July 1, imposes a ban on single-use plastic bags in modern department stores and supermarkets. The regulation will also be applied to all traditional markets under the management of city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya, which includes Cipete Market.
The regulation aims to address plastic waste issues plaguing the capital city and to cut back on the reliance on single-use plastic bags. Although it was deemed vital for the city’s environment, the issuance of the regulation had been pushed back several times as the city argued that it needed more time to provide alternative packaging for vendors and customers.
Still, the regulation has been met with mixed reviews, including from vendors who claim to be confused about the alternative packing for customers.
