Indonesia will completely ban single-use plastic products, including polystyrene foam used for food, single-use plastic straws, plastic cutlery, and plastic shopping bags, by the end of 2029.
This is a way to deal with packaging waste that is difficult to collect and recycle, has no economic value, and has the potential to pollute the environment," Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti said in making the announcement on Monday (June 5)."
Indonesia is one of the countries that create the most plastic waste in the world. In 2022, Indonesia, with a population of 270 million, created 12.6 million tons of plastic waste, the equivalent of 46.7 kilograms per person, according to official figures.
A study by the Zero Waste Indonesia Coalition, an environmental group, points out that only 9% of Indonesia's plastic waste is recycled, while the rest is either disposed of in landfills or flows into rivers and oceans.
Indonesia faces a serious problem of garbage pollution of the sea. The picture shows a seaport in Banda Aceh, Sumatra.
Siti revealed that the central government will ask the provinces to develop a roadmap to reduce plastic waste in order to implement the ban.
She also stressed that the private sector should play a role in reducing plastic waste. She asked all manufacturers to reduce the use of plastic packaging by 30 percent by 2029 to reduce the downstream plastic waste problem.
In order to reduce the use of plastic, the Indonesian government has introduced several relevant regulations. For example, the authorities in 2019 mandated plastic manufacturers to develop a roadmap for their products to reduce manufacturing waste, among others.
Other Southeast Asian countries are also trying to deal with the problem of plastic waste. The Malaysian government announced in May that it plans to completely ban the use of plastic bags by businesses by 2025.
On the other hand, the Philippines creates 60,000 metric tons of solid waste per day, up significantly from 16,000 metric tons in 2016. Of this 60,000 metric tons of solid waste, 30 to 40 percent is plastic waste.
The Philippines has failed to win the battle to reduce the use of single-use plastics, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Loy Sagar said Monday." There is a social issue involved, and if you can't deal with that social issue, we can't solve the problem of single-use plastic use."
She also urged large companies that use plastic packaging to take responsibility and find sustainable alternatives.
Thailand also faces the same problem of plastic waste polluting the ocean. Data from Thailand's Pollution Control Department shows that a total of 25.7 million tons of solid waste was generated in 2022, up 2.8% year-on-year. The problem is exacerbated by the use of single-use plastic packaging due to the prevalence of take-out and online shopping. The Department of Pollution Control predicts that the total amount of waste in Thailand will continue to increase as the number of tourists steadily rises.
Thong Tanlungnawasawat, a marine ecologist at the College of Fisheries, Thailand Agricultural University, said:- "An important way to address marine litter is to develop mandatory waste management, levy fees on companies that produce low-degradable litter, and improve the market competitiveness of degradable and recyclable products."
The Thai government has launched an action plan on waste management that aims to phase out single-use plastic products and Polytron food packaging, and will also ban all plastic waste imports from 2025.
