The Plastic Smart Cities initiative has been implemented in Indonesia since 2021 in 5 different cities: Bogor, Jakarta, Depok, Makassar, and Denpasar (Bali). In January 2024, WWF-Indonesia, with Plastic Smart Cities, launched a new collaboration with three institutions from Indonesia: PT. KIBUMI, PT. WASTE4CHANGE and the RECO Consortium, which consists of PT. Million Waste Indonesia, PT. Khazanah Hijau Indonesia (Rekosistem), and SweepSmart.
This collaboration, which will be implemented in 3 cities – Jakarta, Depok, and Bogor – aims to strengthen the work of the PSC, and contribute to the goal of reducing plastic leakage in nature by 30% by 2025.
Cities are among the most significant producers of plastic waste.
Based on a report by Making Oceans Plastic Free (2017), an average of 182.7 billion plastic bags are used in Indonesia every year. This is equivalent to 1,278,900 tons of plastic bags used annually, with 56.7% of them coming from 58 cities and regions. Even though plastic waste production keeps increasing, waste management infrastructures are still woefully limited.
Moreover, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry data showed that the total waste generated in Indonesia in 2022 has reached 36.1 million tonnes, and nearly a fifth (18.07%) of which are plastic waste.
Therefore, this collaboration aims to improve the waste collection and plastic recycling system, while creating synergy in activities between local plastic waste management stakeholders and the three partners.
“We really hope these three new partners will significantly scale the impact of plastic waste management in Jakarta, Bogor, and Depok. More importantly, they can inspire and also mobilize all parties to better manage their plastic waste, including corporations,” said Aditya Bayunanda, CEO of WWF-Indonesia.
[See other Plastic Smaty Cities in Asia]
These partners will carry out various activities to collect & recycle plastic waste:
- PT. KIBUMI will build an integrated digital platform for waste pickers, an enterprise resource planning (EPR) and Point of Sale (POS) system for scrap collectors, and Bumi Hubs (a transit place for collected waste before it’s sold to the off-taker, and brand owners), and recycling companies, as well as provide comprehensive training programs for informal waste workers on financial management, health care systems, and environmental safety.
- RECO Consortium will build a ‘Plastic Smart Recovery Hub’ that will sort and recycle the collected waste more efficiently and with higher recovery rates—meanwhile,
- PT. WASTE4CHANGE plans to establish and scale up two production facilities with informal sector partners, send flexible plastic waste to recycling sites, and integrate the facilities and value chain into the Plastic Credit programme by rePurpose Global (with Verra Standards).
Bogor City Representatives on the collaboration to prevent plastic leakage
Setyawati, Head of Environmental Management, Bogor City Environmental Service, said, “Bogor City is Indonesia’s first city to commit to the Plastic Smart Cities movement, through its declaration of intent in August 2021. We continue to strive to manage waste from the source and encourage people to sort waste from households.”
Setyawati added, “We invite all parties to continue collaborating in efforts to reduce waste, especially in urban areas. This effort requires collaborative efforts because you cannot manage waste alone.”
See the original article published by WWF-Indonesia here.
