Resolving Plastic Waste Problem

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

A fisherman walks towards a beach covered in garbage in Paciran district, Lamongan regency, East Java, on Thursday (22/11/2018). Besides causing diseases for residents living on the coast, the garbage – consisting largely of plastic waste – pollutes the sea and endangers the marine ecosystem.

Plastic waste is becoming an increasingly serious threat to public health and the environment. The government and the public at large must work together to resolve the problem.

This daily reported that two separate studies by Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ oceanographic research center have found microplastic content in salt and fish. The studies, respectively, used samples taken from salt ponds in Jeneponto, South Sulawesi, and Central Java’s northern coast in Pati, Kudus, Demak and Rembang.

The type of plastics found in salt was similar to those found in seawater, sediments and marine biota. The microplastics are strongly believed to have come from marine plastic waste or from the salt harvesting process, in which plastics are commonly used.

Despite the actual cause of its death is still being investigated, a beached sperm whale was recently found dead on Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, with 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste in its stomach.

Apart from plastics, we are also facing another huge marine pollution threat. In the waters of Thousand Islands regency, plastic, oil and other wastes are commonly found. The Citarum River, West Java’s longest and largest river, is polluted with heavy industrial, household and animal waste.

Plastic waste is a global concern due to its massive amount and role in polluting water sources worldwide. Research has shown how the digestive tract of  creatures in Indonesian seas, including fish like anchovies and tuna, crabs, clams, and even zooplanktons, contain nanoplastics measuring less than 0.5 millimeter. The  health effects of consuming plastic-polluted seafood remains a point of academic contention but plastics have never entered the human food chain before.

We appreciate the government’s commitment, as delivered by Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in the New York Maritime Forum in June 2017, namely to reduce plastic waste leakage to the seas by 70 percent in 2025. The government must achieve this goal, not only for the interest of global citizens but also for Indonesia.

The government must take actual and consistent steps to overcome plastic waste by involving all stakeholders. Big and small industries must be pushed and facilitated to reduce their use of plastic packaging. The government can provide incentives, including tax reductions, for research and usage of environmentally-friendly raw materials. A circular economy must become the norm.

Regional governments can be encouraged to tackle and process their trash. Plastic waste processing must be seen as a business opportunity, not a financial burden. We can learn much from global cities with successful waste recycling programs, including turning waste into electricity.

Education on the effects of plastics on the environment and the need of proper waste disposal sites must begin early on. The results will only be visible in the long run but education remains the best way to change mindsets and behaviors for the betterment of life on Earth.