JAKARTA, 29 September 2020 - The ban on the use of single-use plastic has become a hot issue in 2020, after DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan passed a regulation banning the use of single-use plastic for shopping bags.
On September 29 2020, Yok Yok Ayok Daur Ulang! (in Bahasa: YYADU!), a sustainable recycling initiation program created by PT Trinseo Materials Indonesia and also supported by the Packaging Group in 2019, conducted education on the single-use plastic ban policy from several perspectives, with the title "Is single-use plastic tires a solution?" of environmental problems in Indonesia?”.
This educational webinar was hosted by Hanggara Sukandar, Sustainability Director of Responsible Care Indonesia, which is a voluntary initiative from the global chemical industry formed to improve environmental performance, health, safety and security of facilities, processes and products with sustainability being our main priority. Also attending the webinar was Doctor Jessica Hanafi, an ISO (International Organization of Standardization) technical expert, and also the Advisory Committee for the UN Environment Life Cycle Initiative for Social LCA; Dr. Kardiana Dewi, Sp.KK, medical practitioner; Wahyudi Sulistya, Director of the Packaging Group; and Prispolly Lengkong, Chairman of the Indonesian Scavengers Association.
"This policy will of course have an impact on other aspects, such as the workforce, at least more than 170 thousand people who work in the plastic industry in Indonesia will be affected if this kind of 'prohibition' mentality continues to be cultivated," said Wahyudi Sulistya. In addition, according to Wahyudi, currently, there is no substitute for plastic in terms of carbon emissions, function, durability and price. "Every day, we use plastic because we need it. When the ban on the use of single-use shopping bags was passed, replacement packaging bags that are currently an option and are widely used for packaging, such as spunbond or paper bags also have a layer of Polypropylene or PP plastic, what makes it water-proof is the plastic layer,” he added.
"In fact, surgical masks like 3Ply have a plastic coating as well. You can imagine, it's impossible for us to ban the use of single-use plastic even though we really need a plastic coating every day, especially in the midst of a pandemic. If the attention of the government and the public is on single-use plastic waste, mask waste should also be a concern, which is now piling up," said Wahyudi. "That means, the solution is we can't ban plastic, but waste management," he concluded.
Some of the options for substituting plastic bags at this time also apparently still have a plastic coating, not to mention, the prices are also not cheap if purchased by consumers compared to plastic bags.
Furthermore, Prispolly Lengkong also shared his opinion regarding this policy, according to him the scavenger profession was also one of the subjects that was negatively affected by this policy. "There are at least 3 million more scavengers, not including their families who will be affected by the enactment of the single-use plastic ban policy. Plastic waste has high economic value, especially for our profession. Because, we sort the waste and we can resell it and recycle it into useful objects, including turning it into plastic again," he said.
When talking about health and medical aspects, dr. Kardiana explained about the character of cross contamination of COVID-19, "This virus has the character of spreading cross contamination or cross contamination. This means the process of accidentally moving the virus from one object or person to another, then moving again to someone when there is physical contact.
"So, maintaining health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with the character of cross contamination, indeed requires us to be extra hygienic and careful, especially for those who do activities outside the home. When you enter the house, if you can, items brought from outside don't go inside, in this case it's like a shopping bag," he added.
Doctor Kardiana also provided tips for maintaining hygiene in the midst of this pandemic, namely by implementing health protocols strictly, precisely and correctly. As we know, Covid-19 can survive on surfaces. So we have to be more diligent in cleaning the surfaces of various everyday items that are often touched, are prone to contamination or have the potential to become a source of transmission by using disinfectants.
She added, in the medical world the use of single-use is recommended to maintain hygiene in the midst of this pandemic so as to minimize the risk of being exposed to the virus. He also gave an example of the daily life of medical workers, the majority of whom use single-use devices, including PPE, and single-use surgical masks which are very crucial during this pandemic. Along with the comments of Dr. Regarding the preference for single-use in the midst of a pandemic, Wahyudi Sulistya also said that there was an increase in demand for PS Foam single-use packaging. This is related to PSBB regulations and the ban on eating on the spot, so that food delivery is an option, and PS Foam is a food packaging that functionally can maintain the temperature resistance of cold and hot food, so that food from restaurants can reach the hands of consumers at home. with good quality. In addition, hygiene factors and community concerns are also considered to be contributors to this increasing demand.
What's also interesting about this discussion is the presentation from Doctor Jessica Hanafi, regarding how to assess eco-friendly or not an item that must be assessed holistically, cannot be assessed only from downstream or from biodegradable or not.
“A product cannot only be seen or photographed at only one stage in its life. If you look at only one or two stages of a product's life span, there will be a shift in environmental impact. Assessment of the potential environmental impact of a product can be carried out through the Life Cycle Assessment method, the standards of which have been adopted into SNI ISO 14040 and 14044 in 2016 and 2017. Based on several LCA studies reviewed by UN Environment in its publication on ‘Single-Use Plastic Bags and their alternatives: Recommendations from Life Cycle Assessment’, many parameters must be considered in making decisions regarding the use or banning of plastics because there are many implications that can occur which also result in a more severe environmental impact.” Dr. Hanafi explained.
“Reusable bags that are designed to be used many times have a lower environmental impact than single-use plastic Polyethylene (PE) bags. However, depending on the type, reusable bags must be used up to tens of times, even more than 150 times for bags made of cotton. Depending on consumer behavior, this number may not be reached. Meanwhile, for biodegradable materials, in waste management practices, conditions must be handled in such a way so that they can be decomposed in the composting system,” Dr. Hanafi continued.
In addition, according to Doctor Jessica, the solution to the environmental waste problem is not banning, but waste management. There should be good waste management from upstream to downstream, and this can be achieved through synergistic collaboration between the community, government and private sector.
"TPA should no longer exist, we must have an integrated waste management mindset and planning. For example, currently IPI also has a waste management program, namely the Scavenger Industrial Area (KIP) and the Scavenger Business Area (KUP)," said Prispolly.
"Currently, IPI's waste management program has contributed to reducing waste at the Bantar Gebang DKI Jakarta TPST, from 3,800 tons per day to 2,063 tons," he added. "If IPI can contribute to TPST waste management, the government, the community and the private sector should also be able to make better programs to deal with waste problems," he said.
The problem of banning the use of single-use plastic which is currently widespread, is apparently considered unable to solve environmental problems based on the explanations from the sources above. Solutions to problems must be sustainable and measurable, namely with sustainable waste management.
“Solusi dari masalah ini sudah seharusnya difokuskan kepada pengelolaan sampah dengan prinsip ekonomi sirkular, suatu hari nanti, sampah plastik akan menjadi sangat berharga, karena sudah banyak penelitian dan pengembangan bahkan di Indonesia yang sudah berhasil mengkonversikan sampah plastic apapun menjadi benda berharga lain, termasuk menjadi energi, ataupun BBM”, tutup Wahyudi.
This discussion is the first in a series of a total of 12 series of educational webinars that will be conducted by YYADU! in the next 6 months. YYADU! program itself has received various kinds of support both from organizations, government and private. This time, YYADU! in collaboration with YAKSINDO and the Paket Group on an end-to-end waste management pilot project in Tegal City which will be evaluated in the near future.
