Plastic Marine Waste and its Potential for Indonesian Indigenous Communities

Abstract

The management of marine waste is an increasingly complex issue facing the world today. Our study provides an interesting take on the issue of marine waste by examining how Indonesian indigenous communities can deal with plastic marine pollution. While there is an obvious need for mitigating plastic use, for effective legislative policies regulating plastic waste management, and to do more to develop sustainable waste management practices; there are also opportunities for indigenous communities to take an innovative approach by using plastic waste in a manner that drives economic development from both non-market and neoliberal theoretical ideologies. As part of this assessment, alongside Indonesian examples we include examples of plastic re-use by indigenous communities of the Philippines and Australia. Moreover, our study highlights some of the areas in which this is being done in the fields of art and infrastructure development.

Keywords

• indigenous people
• sovereignty
• waste management
• circular economy
• plastic marine pollution
• artistic recycling
• tropics