Making a circular economy more down to earth
Apart from the 36 initiatives mentioned above, some private sector players has also started similar projects.
Director of Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability PT Coca-Cola Indonesia Triyono Prijosoesilo, unveiled in a discussion titled “Coca-Cola System Towards The Circular Economy in Indonesia” on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, said the concept of linear economy, which refers to the production of goods is at the expense of the productivity of ecosystems on earth, is becoming a burden, not just to the society, environment, but also the government as well as corporations.
Coca Cola, Triyono said, considers one of the front liners for the implementation of a circular economy is the scavengers. He said, this type of informal workers are often forgotten and economically marginalized.
“We expect to implement a circular economy concept with support from our friends, who have been forgotten (the scavengers). We hope to improve their welfare,” he said.
Coca Cola Indonesia, which is part of the global soft drink manufacturer CocaCola, has been initiating some projects to help improve scavengers’ welfare in Indonesia.
Hilari Ignatius Kenneth, the CEO of PT Mahkota Giovey Abadi, a company that manufactures travel pack bottles for F&B industry said that efforts to promote a circular economy has to be more “down to earth” and not to forget to target the millennials.
“The concept of a circular economy must be visible. It must be brought as close as possible to the millennials. The concept must be visible by the eyes of the millennials, where they hang out, we must be there. For example, at some cafes, the owners must start introducing a logo of “100% recycled”. This kind of pride to use recycled products is important to make it into a trend and become a custom in the new normal,” said Kenneth, whose Mahkota Giovey produces plastic bottles made of 100 percent recycled materials.
Rocky P., the National Advisor di Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, said “A Circular Economy concept is comprehensive” . Waste management of the production processes, as well as the waste after consumption are just one of the components.”
“A circular economy concept covers the idea how to redesign waste, or to make no waste at all. It is how to minimize waste or reuse the materials. This approach is expected to extend the value of the products, apart from allowing for more job opportunities.”
GIZ, along with Expertise France, are handling a project called “Rethinking Plastic – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter”. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and funded by the European Union, this project has been run, from 2019 to 2022, in China, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In Indonesia, GIZ and its supporters made collaborations with a number of stakeholders, including the government, the private sector, and NGOs in a number of programs to improve producers’ awareness to use recycled materials, especially for plastic related products.
’Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ supports the transition towards a circular economy for plastics to reduce plastic waste leakage into the sea and thus marine litter. The project is based on the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and seven countries in East and South-East Asia and is expected to be well-aligned with the government’s frameworks in the regions to reduce marine plastic waste.
Jointly with its partners, the Rethinking Plastics project seeks to improve the management of plastic waste as well as encouraging sustainable consumption and production of plastic and reducing litter in the sea.
Dialogue and learning from experiences and examples of policies, practices and innovative approaches are key to ’Rethinking Plastics’. For information, the ’Rethinking Plastics’ provides advice, promotes exchange and best practice sharing, implements activities and supports more than 20 pilot projects in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to test and disseminate new approaches or upscale best practices.