1,048 People to Join Anti-plastic Parade
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21 July 2019 08:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 1,048 people have registered to join a parade rejecting single-use plastic bags in Jakarta Sunday. The parade will start at 06:00 a.m. and end at 10:00 a.m., with the participants marching from Hotel Indonesia (HI) roundabout to the National Monument (Monas) Square.
"By tonight, 1,048 people have registered to join the parade," urban and energy campaigner of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Dwi Sawung said Saturday night.
The participants come from various segments of the community including students, workers and housewives. The number is expected to increase as the organizing committee has kept the online registration open.
Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Susi Pufjiastuti is expected to join the campaign.
The plastic-free parade will be the largest action in Indonesia to reject single-use plastic bags. A number of activities including oration, flash mob, plastic monster and music performance will enliven the parade.
During the parade, the participants will voice a three-point demand. First, they will urge the government to ban single-use plastic products nationwide; second, they will ask the government to improve garbage management system; and third, they will urge producers and business agents to take responsibilities for plastic trash arising out of their products.
Plastic waste has, since decades, become a major problem in Indonesia amid the government's serious endeavors to deal with the menace by highlighting its detrimental impacts on the country's environmental sustainability.
Plastic waste, which has had a serious impact on the quality of soil and water and may threaten the existence of living creatures, is closely related to the amount of trash produced and used by Indonesians every day.
Some 9.8 billion plastic bags are used in Indonesia every year, and almost 95 percent of it will end up as waste, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya has noted.
The total number of plastic straws used by Indonesians daily reaches some 93 million, rising from nine percent in 1995 to 16 percent in 2018, the ministry's waste management directorate has estimated.
ANTARA
