Waste banks are a cornerstone of Indonesia’s waste reduction efforts. Seeking to prevent plastic waste from getting burned or choking waterways, communities establish these places for people to bring plastic waste to be recycled. It only took a few months to see tangible results at the Bumi Daya Bersih waste bank in West Jakarta. In addition to collecting and sorting waste, the waste bank community is also contributing to waste prevention. A number of regular waste bank customers have started bringing empty plastic packaging that’s not intended to be recycled (yet) but instead refilled with high-quality home and body care products. This is just one of the many emerging circular initiatives launched by Enviu’s Zero Waste Living Lab, a reuse venture building program, the aim of which is to provide viable and sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics by building reuse business models.

Indonesia’s Fight Against Plastic Pollution

As a nation whose huge fisheries and booming tourism industry are built on the back of its beautiful beaches, marine ecosystems, and rich biodiversity, Indonesia’s plastic problem is particularly dire. The country generates around 6.8 million tonnes of plastic waste a year—a figure that is growing by 5 percent annually. Less than 40 percent of that waste is collected today, with the rest burned or ending up in the environment. Without major intervention, plastic pollution in the country will more than double in the next 20 years.  Last year the Indonesian government launched its National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP), with an accompanying action plan that aims to reach near-zero ocean plastic pollution by 2040. It is one of the most ambitious goals set by any nation in the fight against the plastic crisis. But can it be done? It sure can! At least, that’s the picture drawn by an increasing number of inspiring and successful reuse initiatives working on the ground across Indonesia.

Recycling, Step Aside. Welcome, Reuse!

For decades the focus has been on ramping up recycling efforts, but an increasing body of evidence indicates that recycling alone won’t solve our plastic problem. Even with an ambitious recycling strategy in place, plastic production will still double by 2050.

This conclusion is backed by the Breaking the Plastic Wave report, which states that reducing plastic production through upstream solutions is the most impactful solution to plastic waste from an environmental, economic and social perspective.  Solving the plastic crisis by treating its root causes rather than its symptoms is exactly what’s driving the mission behind Enviu’s Zero Waste Living Lab (ZWLL), one of Indonesia’s frontrunners in the reuse revolution.  “Bringing entrepreneurship and social impact together, our team at the ZWLL aims to shape a zero-waste market by building reuse business models that prevent plastic waste at the source,” says Fazrin Rahman, a business developer at the ZWLL.  To achieve plastic reduction in the most impactful way, the ZWLL approaches business development by putting the consumers, as well as other key drivers of change, at the center of the process. This approach, called “Human-Centered Design,” allows for designing solutions with the local context in mind. As Fazrin further explains, this method also enables quick learning of what works and what doesn’t, where opportunities for the most impact lie, and what strategic partnerships are needed.

Reuse Holds a Huge Potential to Stop Marine Plastic Leakage

In addition to the potential of reuse models to prevent more than 750,000 tonnes of plastic from becoming waste by 2025, the market for reuse and alternative delivery models presents an economic opportunity of $4.2 billion in Indonesia alone. And thanks to circular ventures like those from the ZWLL, that market is visibly taking shape.  For example, ZWLL’s venture Koinpack takes aim at single-use plastic sachets—one of the most pernicious types of plastic packaging—which, despite being widely popular with Indonesian consumers, are incredibly difficult to recycle and typically end up polluting the environment. Koinpack uses a tech-enabled reusable bottles system that eliminates the need for sachets altogether. By partnering with warungs (local frequency stores) and waste bank communities across Jakarta (such as the Bumi Daya Bersih waste bank mentioned before), the venture provides partnering consumer goods brands with a zero-waste opportunity to sell their home and personal care products. Based on a deposit and reward model, Koinpack’s circular system offers consumers both a convenient and affordable alternative to single-use plastics.  The venture’s potential to pave the way for zero-waste packaging has already caught the eye of fast-moving consumer goods brands. “We are working with fast moving consumer goods manufacturers to test and prove our business model is viable and scalable,” says ZWLL business developer Bintang Ekananda.  Another venture from the ZWLL, called Qyos uses an Internet of Things-enabled refill vending machine to replace sachets and pouches. The user-friendly dispensers are strategically placed in high-density residential areas of apartment buildings.  Connected to an app, the vending machine allows consumers to refill reusable bottles with the personal or home care product of their choice via a smart, touchless system. And on top of being sustainable, Qyos’s solution is also affordable, with customers saving about 25 percent on packaging by using the venture’s refill option.

Single-use water bottles are also on the ZWLL’s radar. Their venture Econesia, provides hotels, households, and retailers with water filtration systems, enabling them to skip single-use plastic bottles. In less than a year since its launch, Econesia has prevented more than 2 million plastic bottles from becoming waste.

Reuse Is Both Environmentally and Economically Attractive

Besides the clear environmental benefits of reuse models, there’s also a lot to gain economically. Not only can these solutions drive down annual waste management costs accompanying our current linear consumption paradigm but they are also less costly to implement—the installation of a recycling plant can cost as much as $85 million, but a reuse solution with equivalent impact potential requires less than $600,000.  The successful and inspiring models of Koinpack, Qyos, and Econesia are just a microcosm of the real potential that reuse holds in the fight against the plastic menace. The momentum is here and it’s growing at a promising rate. Now all that’s left is to seize it and return Indonesia’s natural environment to the idyllic beauty for which it is known.