Second biggest contributor to plastic waste in oceans is Indonesia

Global Business

Millions of tons of plastic waste get dumped into our oceans annually and with Indonesia’s infamous contribution to this, citizens there are trying to remedy the problem.
CCTV’s Andy Saputra filed this report from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Second biggest contributor to plastic waste in oceans is Indonesia

Millions of tons of plastic waste get dumped into our oceans annually and with Indonesia's infamous contribution to this, citizens there are trying to remedy the problem. CCTV's Andy Saputra filed this report from Jakarta, Indonesia.

It’s an insurmountable task as Khalisha Khalid of Friends of the Earth Indonesia explains.
“In Jakarta alone, the city produces 7000 tonnes of garbage everyday and 1000 tonnes of that garbage, ends up at the ocean,” Khalid said.

In Indonesia, people living along the coast generated about 3.2 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste in 2010, about 10 percent of the world total.

These facts came out in a landmark study from the University of Georgia that ranked Indonesia as the second biggest source of plastic waste dumped into the sea worldwide every year. With China as the biggest source, together they account for roughly a third of the world’s plastic waste.

These 5 countries made up over half the world’s mismanaged plastic waste in 2010:

Data: Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Georgia

And that’s not all.

“Aside from the garbage from the city, we also have industrial waste from factories, mostly small medium home factories that dump their toxic waste into the rivers and ends up in the ocean,” Khalid added.

A combination of insufficient infrastructure, uncontrolled population boom and poor public education has created a crisis here. Already the waters in the Jakarta bay is too contaminated for marine life and the experts warn that the problems will multiply if nothing changes.

The government has put in place massive regulation reforms on waste management back in 2008, but the enforcement of these rules are continuing to be a problem.

“85 percent of the garbage problem is caused by life style so community based solution will be a long term solution, We see a lot of community based movements already forming out of concern, this can be a solution if these communities are supported by the government,” Khalid added.

That’s why movements like the Ciliwung institute, that not only clean up the rivers but also educate the local population, can be crucial to help Indonesia’s trash problem.