Plastic waste is still one of the environmental problems in Indonesia today. Based on data from The World Bank 2021, Indonesia produces around 7.8 million tons of plastic waste every year. As many as 4.9 million tons of plastic waste are not managed properly, for example not being collected, disposed of in open dumps, or leaking from landfills that are not managed properly.
Very concerned about this, PT AJINOMOTO INDONESIA (Ajinomoto) continues to innovate and is committed to supporting the government in tackling waste by launching a waste station facility, in collaboration with one of the start-up recycling companies in Indonesia, Rekosistem, which is supported by an android-based platform. &ios. This platform is very easy to use for the community to deposit garbage. The Pasar Sememi Waste Station facility will also be donated to the Surabaya City Environment Agency to be managed and used by the local community.
"This is a form of our efforts to realize the company's responsibility and commitment to waste management and environmental preservation in Indonesia by sticking to the Ajinomoto Shared Value (ASV) as the company's principle in contributing to environmental sustainability. Not only making waste station facilities with Rekosistem, we also continue to educate the public to sort waste from its source. Towards 2030, Ajinomoto has two big goals, the first is to increase the quality and healthy life expectancy of Indonesian families and the second to reduce the environmental impact of the company's activities. To realize this commitment, the Ajinomoto Indonesia Group is also increasing the literacy and knowledge of all of its employees to be created as Health Providers. Health providers consists of Health provider for human beings and health provider for the earth, because the Ajinomoto Indonesia Group cares about improving the health of all people and the earth (environment). For the health and preservation of the earth, in particular the Ajinomoto Indonesia Group wants to contribute to reducing waste pollution in the sea." said Yudho Koesbandryo - Director of PT AJINOMOTO INDONESIA, when delivering a speech at the Launching event of the Ajinomoto Waste Station Facility at Sememi Market, Surabaya (21/12/2022).
"I think in this era, the culture of disposing trash in its place is not enough. Now we also need to have a habit of sorting waste. From these simple things, it will have a big impact on waste management in Indonesia. So come on, let's segregate our trash together," he continued.
Meanwhile, according to Ernest Christian Layman – CEO & Co-Founder of Rekosistem, seeing that the problem of packaging waste is still a thorny problem in Indonesia and even continues to increase, Rekosistem is here to implement a sustainable ecosystem through waste management services by focusing on collection, sorting and recycle.
"One of the ways that Rekosistem does this is to provide access to waste recycling by building waste stations so that people can recycle their household inorganic waste easily. Communities can make deposits through an application, by first sorting, cleaning, and packing their recycled waste ," Ernest said.
The activities carried out by Ajinomoto and Rekosistem are also appreciated by the government. The Surabaya City Environment Agency representative said that waste management in Indonesia is not only the responsibility of the government, but a shared responsibility, and all elements of society can contribute to better waste management in Indonesia.
The Ajinomoto Indonesia Group hopes that this initiative can inspire other parties to carry out other environmental conservation movements that can keep Indonesia green.