Nina : "Enough! stop sending plastic waste to Indonesia"

Nina gave a testimony about the impact of imported waste at the CSO Meeting,
at the Westin Ottawa Hotel (20/4/24)

"It's enough to see the environmental damage caused by imported plastic waste in Indonesia. I want Indonesia to be free from imported plastic waste. At INC4 Ottawa, Canada, I want to express my concerns to the delegation of developed countries that export waste to stop sending plastic waste to Indonesia. , Enough already!" Aesnina said.

Aehnina Azzahra Aqilani, representing River Warrior Indonesia (Reverin)  and BreakfreefromPlastic was invited by the United Nation Environment Program to attend the fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) or intergovernmental negotiating committee to prepare a plastic treaty, a legally binding international agreement regarding plastic pollution, including in the environment. sea. The event, which was attended by 170 countries, is scheduled to take place in Ottawa, Canada from 23 to 29 April 2024.

In this event, Riverin and more than 100 civil society organizations (CSOs) urged ASEAN leaders to take a firm stance in the ongoing negotiations to draw up the Plastic Treaty. Apart from that, Aeshnina also tried to convey her desire that developed countries would no longer send waste to Indonesia.

ASEAN Countries Are (Still) Trash Cans

Countries in Southeast Asia are victims of the ongoing illegal plastic waste trade from developed countries, making the ASEAN region a dumping ground for non-recyclable waste. From single-use plastics to microplastics and toxic pollution from burning, uncontrolled global plastic production will continue to make communities in Southeast Asia the ones most exposed to the burden of toxic pollution. Real action is needed to prevent the entry of plastic waste into ASEAN countries.

"I still find plastic waste from Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, Germany and Italy being dumped and burned in the area I live in East Java, people still burn imported plastic waste to produce tofu," said Aeshnina, more The student from SMA Muhammadiyah 10 Gresik continued, explaining that the burning of imported plastic waste also occurs in areas close to the recycled paper industry made from imported waste. Burning plastic waste creates a new problem in the form of dioxin pollution. Indonesia is the region with the second highest level of dioxin pollution in free-range chicken eggs in Asia, 70 times the WHO standard.

Throughout 2023 Aeshnina and the Riverin Team discovered,

Liquid waste from paper recycling factories is dumped into rivers
without being processed

1. Piles of imported waste in the villages of Gresik, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto and Malang Regencies (East Java) and large piles in the PT Indah Kiat Paper Factory in Kragilan Serang, Banten. This stockpile has the potential to pollute underground water, air microplastic contamination and dioxin pollution

2. The activity of burning imported plastic waste as fuel for making tofu and limestone

3. High levels of microplastic discharge from recycled paper industries. In East Java, more than 11 recycled paper industries made from imported waste dump liquid waste into the Brantas River which is used as raw material for drinking water, irrigation of rice fields and fish ponds.

4. Microplastic contamination of water, sediment, biota/seafood

Riverin members discovered illegal dumping site for imported plastic scrap
in Mojokerto (20/2/24)

5. The government is slow in controlling imported plastic waste pollution, the Indonesian government does not provide alternative energy solutions to replace plastic. The Indonesian government has also not responded to the findings of dioxin levels in free-range chicken eggs found in Tropodo Village, Sidoarjo

6. Neglect The act of disposing of wastewater without proper processing from recycled paper factories, causing damage to river ecosystems and microplastic contamination of water biota.

The impact of the global plastic waste trade is worrying, how can developed and rich countries dump their burden of plastic waste on developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar. If they continue to be allowed to export their plastic waste to Southeast Asia, it will slowly kill the environment and our health.

"I will try to meet with delegations from countries sending waste to Indonesia such as Japan, England, America and European Union countries to reduce their plastic waste and recycle their own plastic waste so as not to burden other countries." said Nina.

 Southeast Asia, a largely archipelagic nation with islands hit hard by marine debris, is also polluted at various stages along the plastic supply chain, from fossil fuel extraction to plastic and plastic product manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal. .

Over 100 civil society organizations including Riverin, Walhi, Greenpeace, ICEL, YPBB, Indonesia Plastic Diet, Nexus3 and Ecoton, working to end plastic pollution in southeast Asia and beyond, call upon its member-states to cooperate and negotiate a global plastic treaty that meets the following key goals:

1.      To address the full life cycle of plastic, prioritizing reduction in plastic production, starting with avoidable and hazardous plastics based on an essential use criteria approach. 

2.      To end the transboundary movement of plastic waste and waste colonialism.

3.      To eliminate toxins across the life cycle of plastics by chemical (including polymer) groups, including chemical additives, both intentionally and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), and microplastics.

4.      To increase transparency, traceability, labelling and harmonized disclosure of chemicals in plastics  as well as the reporting of pollution through the pollutant release and transfer register.

5.      To scale up reuse and refill infrastructures that meet global minimum design criteria including standardized toxic-free packaging, safe collection and redistribution mechanisms and binding reuse targets.

6.      To reject technologies that do not address the root cause of plastic pollution, and instead worsen impacts on human health and the environment, including chemical recycling, incineration, waste-to-energy, refuse-derived-fuel (RDF), and similar technologies.

7.      To prevent regrettable substitutes such as bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics which have been shown to contain toxic chemicals and only divert attention away from the reduction of plastic production.

8.      To mandate polluter and producer accountability through global standards for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and a mechanism for the Polluter Pays Principle.

9.      To give a central role to human rights and social justice for all people impacted by plastic pollution, including workers across the plastic life cycle, especially waste-pickers, indigenous peoples & Global South communities, through Just Transition.

10.  To strengthen research and monitoring of the impacts of plastic on human health and the environment, with an eye towards restoration, compensation, and remediation.

After INC-4, UN member states will reconvene in November 2024 in South Korea for the fifth and final round of negotiations.