By: Ahsan Zoelva *)
Jakarta, CIDISS – Sunday morning, 21st February 2016, Sudirman-Thamrin area in Jakarta looked more crowded than usual. The crowds that were not as usual in that “Car Free Day area” is indeed with some reason. In there, or more precisely at the Hotel Indonesia (HI), there is an event that took place to commemorate the Hari Peduli Sampah Nasional (National Day of Garbage Concern/HPSN) 2016 organized by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Event that being entitled “Mental Revolution, Indonesia Free Garbage” is not only to commemorate HPSN which falls annually on February 21, but also aims to remind all levels of Indonesian people how important it is to keep the environment clean from all kind of garbage, especially plastic garbage. Related to the problems of plastic garbage, HPSN 2016 gave special attention to the problem with releasing the declaration of the “Pay to Get the Plastic” program that will be implemented starts from 21st February 2016.
The declaration of the “Pay to Get the Plastic” program was motivated by a report released by Jambeck (2015) which states that Indonesia is in the second position as the world producer of plastic waste into the sea which reached 187.2 million tons, after China, which reached 262.9 million tons. The report certainly makes the Indonesian government feel “uneasy”. In response, the government took the initiative to reduce the use of plastics in society, particularly in the form of shopping bags. After reviewing a number of alternatives, the government has adopted a policy to charge an additional fare of Rp 200 for anyone who shop using plastic bags. In essence, people have to “pay” if want to use plastic as shopping bag.
However, the policy of “Pay to Get the Plastic” program got many criticism of various parties, even from the government itself. Mayor of Solo FX Rudyatmo for example criticized the policy of “Pay to Get the Plastic” proclaimed by the government will not be effective to reduce the use of plastic in particular as a shopping bag. This is due to the price to buy a plastic bag is too cheap, which is only Rp 200. FX Rudyatmo asserted, instead of “Pay to Get the Plastic” program, the government should took measures to suppress retailer entrepreneurs to replace the use of plastic with reusable bag as shopping bag. Thus, people will inevitably use recycled materials as shopping bags so that it will be friendly to the environment.
However, it’s no matter how good a program is, whether the “Pay to Get the Plastic” program or the “Mandatory Using Recycled Shopping Bags” program, all of the programs will not be effective if the community as a major user of plastic is not trying to change their lifestyle that is “unsustainable to environment”. Actually, a lot of simple things that can be done by the people to help the government suppress the production of plastic waste. For example, by not immediately discard the plastic bags if only use it just once. In addition, people also need to get used to using goods derived from recycled materials. Such reusable bag, recycled paper, even recycled paper. Thus, the dream of Indonesia to be free of garbage in 2020 is not just a figment. [AZ]
*) CIDISS Contributor