Indonesian government to phase out single-use plastics by end of 2029

Plastic cutlery, plastic shopping bags, plastic straws and styrofoam for food packaging are among the products targeted by the ban. PHOTO: AFP

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said on Monday that the government would start imposing a ban on single-use plastic products by the end of 2029.

Ms Siti Nurbaya said the plastic products targeted by the ban include styrofoam for food packaging, plastic straws, plastic cutlery and plastic shopping bags.

“This is one of the ways to deal with difficult-to-collect garbage, (garbage that is) difficult to recycle economically,” Ms Siti Nurbaya was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

The government is working towards its target of 70 per cent waste management and 30 per cent waste reduction by 2025, as mandated in Presidential Regulation No. 97/2017 on household waste management.

To cut back on plastic consumption, the Environment and Forestry Ministry has issued a number of regulations.

In 2019, it issued a ministerial regulation which stipulates that plastic producers must set up a waste reduction road map for their products.

In January, Ms Siti Nurbaya said the government was committed to addressing the problem of waste from the upstream and downstream life cycle of products, targeting “zero waste” by 2030.

In 2020, the Jakarta administration issued a long-awaited gubernatorial regulation banning plastic bags from traditional and modern markets starting in June that year.

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