Indonesia to reduce up to 1.9 tons of plastic garbage

Bekasi, West Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesia plans to reduce its plastic garbage by up to 1.9 tons in a year through its garbage reduction program.

"The program will be implemented simultaneously across 22 cities in Indonesia, starting from February 21 in conjunction with the National Waste Care Day," head of the Directorate of Waste Management of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Sudirman, said here on Saturday.

He said national garbage production in a year has reached 64 million tons.

"Around 14 percent of the garbage comprises plastic, weighing 8.9 million tons," he said, after his speech at "Public Dialogue: Boosting the Use of Garbage Gas as Electricity Energy and Development of Regional Dumping Site" at Bantargebang integrated garbage management plant here on Saturday.

He said efforts to reduce the plastic garbage were in line with the governments National Mid-Term Development Plan to reduce national garbage by around 11 percent in 2016.

"One of the efforts is aimed at reducing plastic bags via this program," he said.

Sudirman said the plan would be carried out in stages, with the retail shopping centers being the first target.

He said later the consumers would be required to pay Rp200 per bag to carry their groceries.

"The policy will certainly be implemented in stages at traditional marketplaces," he said.

If the evaluation showed that plastic garbage dropped has significantly, then an increase in the price of plastic bag can be considered, he said.

The proceeds from the sale of plastic bags will later be accumulated and ploughed back into the retail shops economy to be used to support community welfare programs, he said. (*)