What is clear is that trash is still valuable. Trash banks need offtakers.Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Environment and Forestry Ministry is pushing producers to source waste from trash banks to support the circular economy concept.
“What is clear is that trash is still valuable. Trash banks need offtakers,” director general of trash, waste, and toxic and hazardous materials at the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, said at an online discussion that was held as part of the National Trash Care Festival 2021 on Tuesday.
An offtaker is a company that is willing to use trash as raw material to make useful things.
“I want all the companies that serve as informants here to be offtakers,” Ratnawati said.
The companies can recycle sorted trash collected from trash banks to make useful things, she added.
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According to data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Indonesia has 11,566 trash banks spread across 363 districts and cities across the country, she noted. The figure has increased by 2,500 compared to 2016, she pointed out.
The recycled products can be reused by the public so that the trash does not end up in the landfill, she explained. This activity is the manifestation of a circular economy, she added.
Circular economy is the process of reusing trash to make useful things instead of dumping it in the landfill, Ratnawati explained.
Given that plastic trash currently accounts for 17 percent of garbage, particularly in urban areas, another approach is needed to handle garbage, she said.
According to the ministry, Indonesia generated approximately 67.8 million tons of trash in early 2020 and the volume of trash will continue to increase with population growth, she highlighted.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna V, Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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