Supported by 70,605 people, ESN sent a letter to the Minister of Environment and Forestry ask for Microplastic Quality Standards for river water

a common sight in Indonesia, rivers become dumps for plastic waste

Thursday (9/2/2023) The Nusantara River Expedition Team (ESN) sent a letter to the Minister of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) in Manggala Wanabhakti, Tanah Abang District, Central Jakarta. In its letter, ESN asked for quality standards or threshold values ​​for microplastics in Indonesian river waters, microplastic quality standards for seafood and wastewater from paper and textile factories. "It is urgent to implement microplastic quality standards in Indonesia because currently 68 national rivers are polluted with microplastics, 80% of fish in Java are contaminated with microplastics, while the paper and textile industry, which is a source of microplastics, is currently free to dispose of waste without microplastic standards," said Prigi Arisandi, ESN Researcher further explained that microplastic contamination in Indonesian rivers is very worrying because 86% of the raw material for drinking water for the Indonesian population comes from river water. "KLHK must immediately establish microplastic quality standards to protect the health of the Indonesian population, because if microplastic contamination in river water is not controlled then the victims will be humans because it is currently known that fish, seafood have been contaminated with microplastics, even in the stomach, placenta, lungs. Microplastics have been found in mother's milk and human blood," said Prigi Arisandi.

 

"We also hope that the Indonesian people will reduce their use of single-use plastics," said Amirudin Muttaqin. Furthermore, this ESN team member asked the public to sign the petition at

https://www.change.org/p/kementerianlhk-kemenpu-jokowi-bebaskan-sungai-brantas-dari-miikroplastik-sebelum-terlambat-brantasbebasmikroplastik.

River polluted by plastic waste

refers to the quality standards for Indonesian rivers in Government Regulation Number 22/2021 concerning the Implementation of Environmental Protection and Management which states that Indonesian rivers must have zero waste. However, the fact is that ESN found that 68 national rivers in Indonesia are still filled with waste, especially plastic waste such as plastic bags, Styrofoam, diapers, plastic bottles, clothing waste, straws and plastic wrap. This plastic waste due to exposure to sunlight and river waves causes plastic waste to be fragmented into plastic flakes smaller than 5 mm which are called microplastics

ESN from March to December 2022 tested the microplastic content in 68 national strategic rivers, showing 5 Provinces with the highest contamination of microplastic particles, namely East Java Province found 6.36 particles/liter, North Sumatra Province found 5.20 particles/liter, Sumatra Province West found 5.08 particles/liter, Bangka Belitung Province 4.97 particles/liter, Central Sulawesi Province 4.17 particles/liter. The following is the accumulation of microplastic test data in Indonesian rivers spread across 24 provinces in Indonesia.

The type of microplastic that is most often found is fiber (49.20%) which comes from domestic waste, waste from paper factories and textile factories which generally use this type of polyester. The following are 3 types of microplastics that dominate rivers in Indonesia:

1. Fiber 49.20%, the source is from the degradation of synthetic fabrics due to household activities washing cloth, laundry and also textile industry waste. Fiber is also caused by fabric waste scattered in the environment which is degraded due to natural processes;

2. Filament 25.60%, comes from the degradation of single-use plastic waste (plastic bags, plastic bottles, Single layer SL plastic packaging and fishing nets);

3. Fragment 18.60%, comes from the degradation of single-use plastic waste of the type (ML multilayer sachet packaging, bottle caps, shampoo bottles and soap;