Laws and Regulations

Action Plans and Roadmaps

Indonesia has set an ambitious target to reduce marine plastic debris by 70% in 2025. To achieve that, the country launched Indonesia’s Plan of Action on Marine Plastic Debris 2017–2025, which consists of five main pillars.

1. Behavioural change improvement

   Relevant stakeholders are responsible for maintaining the effectivity and effectiveness of marine plastic debris management. The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs has promoted partnerships between ministries and non-governmental stakeholders across the country.

2. Land-based leakage reduction

   Considering that a huge amount of plastic waste from streets and housing ends up in the ocean, the Government of Indonesia is promoting research and production of plastic alternatives to minimise the negative impacts of plastic pollution on the marine ecosystem and human beings.

3. Sea-based leakage reduction

   Besides land-based sources, marine plastic pollution can be generated from sea-based sources such as ships, fishing lines, and pleasure boats. This effort will directly collect plastic debris using technology and will be supported by promoting waste management facilities in ports, improving environmental awareness, and involving small islands and coastal areas.

4. Reduction of plastic production and use

   This effort aims to encourage plastic producers to switch to using recycled plastic and produce more biodegradable plastics.

5. Funding mechanism enhancement, policy transformation, and law enforcement

   Regional and national budgets are planned to be the main source of funding for the national action plan. However, it is expected that international organisations and partner countries can take part in funding the project. Collaborations between ministries, non-governmental stakeholders, and cross-sector actors are encouraged to achieve the project’s target.

The five pillars above are broken down into several strategies:

1. At the local level, the river catchment authority should filter plastic waste from the river. Municipalities should manage waste properly. Other activities being promoted are improving human and funding resources, infrastructure management, and behavioural change, and creating integrated coastal waste management.

2. At the national level, the government is reorganising relevant agencies to deal with upstream landfill. Several activities are also promoted, such as enhancement of stakeholders’ awareness through education and campaign; promotion of waste-to-energy projects; enforcement of regulations on paid plastic bags; utilisation of plastic waste for useful materials; and enhancement of plastic waste regulation in seaports, shipping, and fishing lines.

3. At the international level, bilateral and regional cooperation will be encouraged.

4. Industrial sectors  are encouraged to use biodegradable plastics and acknowledge the circular economy concept. The biodegradable plastic industry is expected to receive foreign investment.

5. The involvement of academics and community service organisations is promoted to foster innovations for new and efficient technologies to deal with the marine plastic problem.

Realising the seriousness of the marine plastic issue and the need to take innovative action, the Government of Indonesia partnered with the Global Plastic Action Partnership in early 2019 to launch the National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP). The main goal of NPAP is to support Indonesia’s National Action Plan on Marine Debris to reduce marine plastic debris by 70% in 2025. In the longer term, NPAP has a more ambitious goal – to reach near-zero plastic pollution by 2040.

The principal task of NPAP is to involve multiple stakeholders, such as government, industry, and civil society, to work together to reduce marine plastic by 70% by 2025. NPAP has formulated five points of action:

1. Reduce or replace the use of plastic to keep plastic consumption to 1 million tonnes by 2025.

2. Upgrade the design of 500,000 tonnes of plastic products and packaging to accommodate reuse or high-value recycling.

3. Increase the plastic collection rate from 39% to 84% by 2025 by fostering state funding and informal or private sector collection systems.

4. Double recycling capacity up to an additional 975,000 tonnes per year by 2025.

5. Develop controlled waste disposal facilities to manage an additional 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste per year by 2025.

Ten movements aim to accelerate the five actions above:

1. Reduce or substitute plastics through policies, targets, and incentives.

2. Shift to 100% recyclable, reusable, and compostable plastics.

3. Enforce solid waste management plans as well as their implementation, initiatives, and monitoring.

4. Create an integrated and supportive waste and recycling system for informal waste workers and companies.

5. Create co-funded industries.

6. Promote capital investment for infrastructure and funding of waste management.

7. Arrange capacity building, training, and skills development.

8. Foster public engagement and behaviour change activities.

9. Facilitate innovation and incubation of new solutions.

10. Expand collaboration between stakeholders.