The garbage is still overflowing. Thus, in addition to handling and reducing it, we must also shut the source of the waste which enters the sea.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The volume of waste drifting into the sea reduced by 15.3 percent during the 2018–2020 period, Assistant Deputy for Waste Management at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment Rofi Alhanif has informed.

"We have calculated the figure in the past two years. In general, we have been able to reduce 15.3 percent of the waste which drifted into the sea," he said at a webinar on ‘Marine Debris: Challenges, Responses, Innovations, Solutions, and Opportunities’ here on Tuesday.

However, the reduction is still far from the target of reducing marine debris by 70 percent by 2025, as stated in Presidential Regulation Number 83/2018 on the Handling of Marine Debris, he said.

"Indeed, the target is ambitious. However, we must give our best to pursue it. If we take action simultaneously to reduce waste, Insya Allah (if God wills), I am sure that we can achieve it," he remarked.

Five National Action Plans (RAN) have been devised to realize the target, Alhanif said.

They comprise a national movement to increase stakeholder awareness; waste management on land; waste management in coastal and marine areas; funding mechanisms, institutional strengthening, supervision, and regulation; as well as research and development, he elaborated.

"Currently, we are working on the upstream sector -- on how to handle waste. However, the garbage keeps generated in quite big amount,” the assistant deputy noted.

He compared the problem of reducing waste to trying to empty a bathtub using a small scoop when the tap is still running. If the tap stays on, the water will still fill the bathtub with a large volume of water, he said.

Related news: Jakarta extends cooperation with Bekasi for waste management

“(Similarly) The garbage is still overflowing. Thus, in addition to handling and reducing it, we must also shut the source of the waste which enters the sea," he added.

Head of sub-Sector of goods and packaging at the Directorate of Waste Management of the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Ujang Solihin Sidik, informed that the volume of marine debris, as recorded by the National Coordination Team for the Handling of Marine Debris, has reached 500 thousand tons per year.

"It is a huge number. We still have a long way to go," he added.

Related news: Do not ban bulk cooking oil sale in 2022: Legislator




Translator: Ade Junida, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021