Gov't Launch National Partnership to Deal with Plastic Waste

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan launched Monday, March 11, a national scale of Plastic Action Partnership by bringing companies, civil communities, and state institutions to tackle plastic pollution.

Luhut explained that the program was the government’s latest effort in curbing plastic waste in the ocean up to 70 percent and solid waste up to 30 percent and managing solid waste up to 70 percent by 2025.

“If this program runs, our children and grandchildren can enjoy fresh water that is free from plastic pollution across all Indonesian regions,” said the minister Monday at Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta.

The national partnership is bringing companies, civil groups, and state institutions, such as Chandra Asri Petrochemical, Coca-Cola Amatil, Blue Bird, Dow Chemicals, Yayasan Ellen MacArthur (Ellen MacArthur Foundation), Evoware, Giti Grup, Greenhope, Perkumpulan Dewan Bisnis Indonesia Untuk Pembangunan Berkelanjutan (Association of the Indonesian Business Council for Sustainable Development / IBCSD), Indorama Synthetics, Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur, Nestle, PepsiCo, Bank Dunia (World Bank), and WWF Indonesia.

Read also: Depok Administration, Aprindo Join Hands to Reduce Plastic Waste

The government, Luhut added, strived to tackle plastic pollution in the country in a bid to prevent malnutrition or stunting in future generations because such cases occurred due to the consumption of fish containing microplastic.

“We want future generation of Indonesia has a better life and health quality than today’s generation,” Luhut noted.

Last year, the global scale of the program, the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), had been launched in Davos, Switzerland. Its goal is to divert commitments into strategic action and investment action plans on fighting plastic pollution.

“With strong team collaboration and partnership with the World Economic Forum, we can mobilize public, private and community support, so we can preserve the wealth of marine biodiversity for the sake of our next generations,” Luhut Pandjaitan concluded.

CAESAR AKBAR