"I call on you, ladies and gentlemen, not to use single-use plastics anymore," she said in a press statement released on Tuesday.
She said Indonesia is now listed as the world`s second largest producer of marine litter.
If the use of single-use plastics is not reduced, the sea will have more litter than fish in 2030, she said.
The minister praised some people who have changed plastic waste from garments into such handicrafts as webbed bags.
The government is mulling the reduction of plastic waste in the country, including a plan to impose sanctions and disincentives on the use of plastics.
"We have a plan in place to take measures, including disincentives on the use of plastics. We are discussing what sanction will be imposed on the use of plastics," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Friday (Nov 23).
The discussion covered the gradual reduction of plastic waste, including the application of technology to reduce plastic waste, he said.
A call for the reduction of plastic waste in the country has resurfaced after the carcass of a 9.5-meter-long sperm whale was found washed ashore the Kapota isle, Wakatobi District, Southeast Sulawesi, on November 19.
Nearly 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste were found in the whale`s stomach.
The giant mammal had ingested 750 grams of 115 plastic cups, 140 grams of 19 hard plastic, 150 grams of four plastic bottles, 260 grams of 25 plastic bags, six pieces of wood weighing 740 grams, two flip-flops of 270 grams, a 200-gram nylon sack, and over a thousand pieces of raffia string weighing 3,260 grams, Laode Ahyar, an official of the Wakatobi National Park, informed an Antara correspondent in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, on November 20, 2018.
The cause of the whale`s death is still unknown, but considering the large lump of plastic waste in its stomach, it is most likely that the plastic waste caused its death.
This is the second whale stranded ashore the Wakatobi waters this year, after a 13-meter-long whale was found dead in the Bombana waters last February.
Reporting by Muhammad Razi Rahman, Suharto
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
