Post-Consumer plastic packaging waste management in Indonesia: a producer responsibility approach

Abstract

In a country with a large and diverse population such as Indonesia, the waste problem is difficult to solve, especially in urban areas. The growth of the population in urban areas has been accompanied by their rapid development of infrastructure and industrial growth. The dynamic lifestyle of urban communities changes their consumption behavior to products that are more practical in packaging. There are fundamental things that arise in the waste management system in Indonesia, including limited waste management capacity in the regions, inadequate infrastructure, implementation of regulations, and a lack of public concern, including the manufacturing industry, on waste management issues. Through the approach of the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR). However, EPR concept implementation in developing countries is still lacking, where the collection and recycling system has not been adequately addressed. On the other hand, the industrial sector does not yet have enough attention to expand its product responsibilities for the post-consumption stage. This article presents an overview of current practices of post-consumer packaging waste management through an extended producer responsibility mechanism in Indonesia. More specifically, this study focused on consumer goods manufacturing industries. Based on the literature study, various industrial efforts have been shown to adopt the EPR concept in handling its product packaging waste.