INDONESIA NEEDS MICROPLASTIC STANDARDS!

Rafika Aprilianti, Coordinator for establishing ecoton for microplastic Standar
held n audience with Staff of ministry of environment and Forestry
On Tuesday (1/10/2024)

Indonesia is experiencing a microplastic emergency, currently plastic pollution is entering the food chain and contaminating the human body. "In 2020, Ecoton's study on 104 samples of human feces showed that 100% of the feces contained microplastics," said Rafika Aprilianti, Ecoton's main researcher on Microplastics. Over the last 7 years, Ecoton has conducted more than 100 microplastic studies on environmental media such as air, water, sediment, plants such as potatoes, leaves and stems, in biota such as river fish, sea fish, shellfish, crabs, shrimp and even researched microplastics in breast milk, skin and amniotic fluid of babies, the results of which showed the presence of microplastics in the human body. on human health and the environment.

71.118 people support microplastic standar in Indonesia

Based on the latest data, microplastics have spread widely into water, air, food and even the human body. The latest facts state that Indonesia is the country with the most people consuming microplastics, every month plastic the size of an ATM card enters the human body. However, Indonesia does not yet have quality standards for microplastics in water and seafood. Ecoton is pushing for microplastic quality standards on the government through the Ministry of the Environment and the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment. "Tuesday (1/10/2024) we had an audience with the Director General of Control of pollution and environmental damage, KLHK, while on Wednesday (2/10/2024) the ecoton team will have an audience with the Deputy for Coordination of Environmental and Forestry Management at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries," said Rafika Aprilianti, more continued the Chair of the Team for Determining Quality Standards for Ecoton Microplastics, stating that on Monday (30/9/2024) the Ecoton team had sent a letter to Commission III DPR RI and the Ministry of Health requesting an audience.

In fact, microplastics are small materials that are invisible but dangerous. "Microplastics are crumbs, flakes or in the Javanese words plastic protolan measuring less than 5 mm or half a cm which comes from large plastic such as plastic bags, straws, plastic bottles, sachets, styrofoam, clothes or clothes made from from polyester or items made from plastic and industrial waste from plastic recycling factories, paper factories and textile factories," said Rafika, furthermore, the biology alumnus from the

State Islamic University of Malang stated that microplastics originating from large plastics fall into the category of secondary microplastics, while microplastics Primary are microplastics that are deliberately produced by factories for human use, such as microbeads in personal care products in the form of scrubs. Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton) proposed establishing Microplastic Quality Standards as a concrete step to control the threat of microplastics causing environmental damage and threats to human health. Microplastic pollution which poisons the environment, the food chain and the human body requires clear and firm regulations. Ecoton urges the government to immediately establish Microplastic Quality Standards, as a strategic step to reduce the impact of this pollution. The proposed microplastic quality standards aim to maintain the quality of water, air and food products, so that they can protect public health and preserve the environment.

You Can Support microplastic Standar by Signing Our Petition

ECOTON's demands to the Indonesian Government regarding microplastic quality standards are:

 1.       Requires the government to set safe limits or quality standards for microplastic levels in raw materials for drinking water, consumption fish, industrial liquid waste, especially in the paper industry and plastic recycling factories.

2.       Requires the government to test microplastic levels in river water, surface water as drinking water raw materials, and air comprehensively and periodically

3.       Requiring the government to test microplastic levels in consumption fish, especially Tilapia, Tilapia, Red Bader, White Bader, Wader, Belida, Cakalang, Senangin and Milkfish.

4.       Requires the government to conduct research on microplastic toxicology tests to determine quality standards.

5.       Requires PDAMs to periodically test microplastic levels in water distributed to the public.

6.       Requires manufacturers to stop production of cosmetics and personal care products that contain microbeads.

7.       Requires the establishment of a Microplastics Management Agency, with duties including:

·         Coordinate microplastic management policies.

·         Carry out inspections and evaluations of established policies.

·         Provide recommendations regarding microplastics law and policy.

·         Coordinate international cooperation regarding microplastic reduction.