Jakarta, January 13 2024. Waste generation is projected to increase by 70% to 3.4 billion tons in 2050. If no significant action is taken, this will be a major threat to the survival of living creatures on this earth. To be able to respond to this potential damage, Diet Plastik Indonesia and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific are holding the Reuse Tour 2024. The tour, which is attended by GAIA members from various countries, aims to strengthen the collective spirit of the global community to prioritize a lifestyle and a system of minimal waste. as a solution to plastic pollution.
“Reuse or reuse is a system. To create a system, of course we cannot move alone. We need many parties involved to create a perfect system. Diet Plastik Indonesia works together with the government, business actors and civil society to create a reuse system that is easy to access and implement. On this Reuse Tour, we want to show participants from various countries the reuse system that has been implemented in Indonesia. “We visited several start-up businesses in Jakarta to learn about reuse systems that have been successfully created and implemented.” – Said Rahyang Nusantara as Deputy Director of Diet Plastik Indonesia.
To support the reuse system so that it is easily accessible to all levels of society, in this Reuse Tour Diet Plastik Indonesia also had the opportunity to visit ALNER, a start-up business that has a pilot project by selling household products and snacks that can be purchased in modern stalls and shops with reusable packaging.
“With ALNER, we provide daily necessities products that are inclusive, accessible to everyone. We sell products online and offline, so that they can be obtained by consumers who are used to buying goods in traditional markets and modern shops. And speaking about the particularities of the Indonesian context, warung is a ubiquitous shopping channel. “With ALNER, we are focusing on collaborating with as many shops as possible, so that these reusable products can be accessed anywhere by anyone, just like shopping in a modern shop.” Explained Darina as Enviu Zero Waste Living Lab Indonesia Program Lead.
Apart from visiting ALNER, the Reuse Tour also provides an opportunity to see first hand the important elements of the reuse business, namely the collection process, packaging washing and refilling. The three processes that are important elements in the reuse business were obtained from the participants’ visit to Kecipir, which is a start-up business that sells daily agricultural and food products by prioritizing sustainable business. Kecipir already has several sales points in Jabodetabek and has a system so that consumers can return the product packaging they purchased so that it can be reused.
The hope is that with this Reuse Tour, it can inspire the expansion of the reuse movement to become a new norm and not only in Southeast Asia, but also throughout Asia and beyond. This is in line with what Froilan Grate as GAIA Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator said. “I’m really inspired by what we’re seeing here with the reuse business in Indonesia. We know reuse is happening in many places, but what I love the most about reuse here is that we’re seeing the result of collaboration between civil society organizations, social enterprises and startups, the government and businesses. We’re seeing what could be possible if only we put our heads together and elevate the solutions that we are seeing on the ground and make sure that we have a full system that involves everyone and benefits everyone. That is the beauty of the reuse tour here in Indonesia.”
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About Diet Plastik Indonesia
Diet Plastik Indonesia (dh. Indonesian Plastic Bag Diet Movement) is a non-profit organization that focuses on advocating for policies to reduce single-use plastic waste in Indonesia. Diet Plastik Indonesia succeeded in encouraging more than 100 regions to ban the use of single-use plastic after initiating the “Not Free Plastic Bags” trial in 2016 with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Diet Plastik Indonesia collaborates with stakeholders such as the government, business actors and community groups in carrying out waste reduction efforts that are solutions and have an impact. The flagship programs carried out by Diet Plastik Indonesia related to waste reduction include the Plastic Free Market and the Jakarta Reuse Movement. Diet Plastik Indonesia has received various awards for what it has done and covered in two documentary films, namely The Story of Plastic (2019) which has won the Emmy Awards and Pulau Plastik (2021).
E-mail: contact@plasticdiet.id
Media Contact: Renata Vania +628112441901
About GAIA Asia Pacific
GAIA is a network of grassroots groups as well as national and regional alliances representing more than 1000 organizations from 92 countries. With our work we aim to catalyze a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. We envision a just, Zero Waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped. www.no-burn.org
Media contact: Sonia G. Astudillo, Senior Communications Officer | +63 9175969286 | sonia@no-burn.org
