A new study by Unilever and Sustainable Waste Indonesia revealed that only 11.83 percent of plastic waste in the urban area of Java island being recycled, the rest of it stills potentially leaked to the environment or just simply ends up in the dumping sites.
Furthermore, this study also concluded that plastic waste collection in the communities is mostly done by waste pickers, which are often underrated and unappreciated for their contributions to society.
This study complements data from the Indonesia Ministry of Environment and Forestry that stated more than 60 percent of plastic waste end up in dumping sites and around 15 – 30 percent leaked to the environment. This number could be worse in the rural area where waste management services only cover 5 percent of its population. Those facts are hardly surprising, though. In 2015, Indonesia has been nominated as the second biggest ocean plastic polluters in the world surpassing more populous countries such as India and USA, as well as more developed countries such as Japan and Germany that use more plastic than Indonesia every year.
The use of plastic is not wrong at all. In fact, plastic is one of the most efficient materials that was ever invented and it has helped us to reduce carbon emissions and deforestation. However, the lack of proper financial schemes and low awareness of the issue are the roots of these problems. The World Bank estimated that Indonesia just pays about half of standard cost on waste management, which makes waste often collected and treated inappropriately. On the other hand, people also still feel free to burn or throw plastic waste anywhere in the neighbourhood, except in some public spaces. Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistics reported that more than half of Indonesian still burn their waste and almost three-fourth of the population does not care about waste management issue. This behaviour can’t be changed overnight, instead, continuous education and law enforcement are needed for a long-term reformation of plastic waste…