JAKARTA: Indonesia, one of the world’s worst plastic polluters, is going to phase out single-use plastic products by the end of 2029, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya announced this week, as the country aims to achieve its zero-waste goals by 2040.
Asia has been identified as the leading source of ocean plastic, with Indonesia — an archipelago nation of 270 million people — being a major contributor.
Indonesia produced 68.5 million tons of trash in 2022, government data shows, more than 18 percent of which was plastic.
Less than 10 percent of waste is recycled in Indonesia, and more than half ends up in landfills.
“Plastic pollution is a real threat that will affect all communities around the world,” Nurbaya said in remarks released on World Environment Day.
“By the end of 2029, we will have phased out several types of single-use plastics.”
This includes plastic shopping bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam products widely used for food packaging.
“This is a method of dealing with packaging wastes that are difficult to collect, have no (economic) value, and are difficult to recycle,” the minister explained, adding that manufacturers are also required to reduce their use of plastic packaging by 30 percent by the end of 2029 in order to “push the growth of sustainable businesses and the circular economy in Indonesia.”
The shift to a circular economy has been supported by the UN Environment Program, which last month claimed countries and industry could decrease plastic pollution by 80 percent in less than two decades by implementing major policy and market changes.
“We are moving toward sustainable waste management (and) circular economy practices,” Nurbaya remarked. “The circular economy’s potential not only brings economic benefits to the public, but it also aligns with achieving the zero-waste target by 2040 and zero emissions by 2050, or sooner.”
Indonesia has seen efforts to reduce single-use plastics, including a ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam in Bali province in 2019 and a similar ban in the capital, Jakarta, in 2020.
However, restrictions may not be sufficient when the world’s fourth most populous country lacks a robust waste management infrastructure.
“Government commitments and policies must prioritize reduction efforts,” Muharram Atha Rasyadi, urban campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told Arab News.
“Sorting-based waste management is also key … so that some materials with the potential to become waste can be managed and not all of them turn into a residue that ends up in landfills.”
Source: Asian News
