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Formalizing informal sector key to new plastics economy: Industry
The recycled packaging industry association says that formalizing the informal waste sector is key to scaling up Indonesia's waste management toward a plastics economy, while one of Oceania's largest bottling companies leads the charge with a new recycling plant that embraces waste pickers and their welfare.
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Armani, 56, who works as an informal waste picker, sorts resalable waste on Jan. 15, 2020 at the Cipayung dump in Depok, West Java. (JP/Yunindita Prasidya)
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usinesses are aiming to lift the lives of informal waste pickers, the backbone of Indonesia’s waste management system, while optimizing the circular economy in the packaging sector.
Karyanto Wibowo, chairman of the Packaging and Recycling Association for Indonesia’s Sustainable Environment (PRAISE), said that formalizing the informal waste sector would be ideal for the future of waste management in the country.
Formally employing scavengers, he said, entailed providing them with the proper equipment, fixed incomes and good access to health care and education. It would also help eliminate child labor in the sector.
“As individual [member] companies and as an alliance, what PRAISE can do is to create an inclusive business model that can help waste pickers meet their basic needs,” Karyanto told The Jakarta Post in an interview on Friday, April 23.
He added that the association already required its members to push their partnering waste collection facilities to formally employ scavengers.
“But of course, doing this is not as easy as flipping a switch. We need the government’s support and commitment, too,” Karyanto said.
Read also: Plastic recycling industry needs more government support
