Indonesia: Government aims for eco-plastic use by 2021

Antara 8 Mar 17;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is aiming for the use of eco-plastic throughout Indonesia by 2021 to reduce waste plastic bags which are difficult to decompose.

"We will continue to encourage retailers to use environmentally-friendly plastic with the Indonesian National Standard (SNI). We have made the design and hopefully there are changes in the use of plastic," Director General for Waste Management R. Sudirman of the Environmental Affairs and Forestry Ministry, remarked here on Monday.

He said the government will ban the use of non-environmentally-friendly plastic by modern retailers in 2019 and by traditional markets in 2021.

The Indonesian National Standard has included a category of bioplastics as a biodegradable plastic bag.

The use of biodegradable plastic bags, will be considered by the government to reduce the tax plastic shopping bags that are under consideration by the government.

Indonesia is reportedly ranked second as the worlds plastic trash contributor to the sea.

In a bid to clean its sea of the plastic waste, the government has conducted studies to determine best solutions to deal with sea garbage and formulated and launched an action plan.

Efforts are being made to deal with the issue of sea pollution caused by waste. Plastic garbage has a direct impact on the sustainability of the fisheries sector besides affecting the marine health and environment.

The Indonesian government is committed to reducing plastic waste by at least 70 percent by the end of 2025. As of now, about nine million tons of waste are generated every year.

Indonesia produces almost 65 million tons of waste a year, of which about 14 percent or nine million tons is in the form of plastic trash.

For this purpose, the government carried out studies to formulate various steps to be taken to clean the sea of this plastic refuse in the next decade.

The studies, which involved 15 cities, were aimed at seeking solutions to the issue of marine plastic waste.

Among these 15 cities were Jakarta, Makassar, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan and Batam. Based on the study, the ministries and government institutions will take action to handle plastic waste at sea.(*)