Indonesia fighting off the world’s plastic waste

The coasts of Java and the banks of the Citarum river accumulate plastic waste arriving there from everywhere in the world, while this region continues to lack in sanitation infrastructure. But both small and large initiatives, driven by citizens, NGOs and companies, have begun to change the situation, restoring rivers and protecting ecosystems.

In Java, Indonesia, the waves carry plastic bottles, packaging and residue which form small islands that the sea returns time and again to land. Among all the waste, you can spot foreign labeling. Much of it has travelled thousands of miles to get here.

Since China closed its doors to the import of waste in 2018, the flow has moved toward South-East Asia. Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have become new destinations for the world’s trash, most of it from the European Union, Japan, the United States and United Kingdom.

 

The Indonesian Central Statistics Agency says that the country, in 2024 alone, imported 262,900 tons of plastic waste, valued at around USD 105 million. But the problem is not just what you see on the surface - the plastics break up into microplastics, polluting water supplying millions of people and testing sanitation infrastructure, which in many places continues to be lacking.

 

In the face of this avalanche of garbage, Indonesia, at the start of this year, announced a ban on all imports of plastic waste, a measure among many other initiatives at local level. From the activism of a young girl to the application of new technologies, diverse projects are advancing step by step to reduce the impact of plastic pollution on rivers and the ocean.

 

What will I learn from this article?

In Gresik, eastern Java, a young girl of 12 decided to write a letter to the President of the United States. “Why do you send us your waste?” asked Aeshnina Azzahra Aqilani, known as Nina. She also wrote to the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Australia.

 

Her school is close to the Brantas river, one of the most polluted in Indonesia. Every morning, the water hauls bags, cables and pieces of plastic. In 2023, a study published by Ecoton, the Indonesian Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation organization, revealed the magnitude of the problem. A sample of just 250 milliliters of the Porong river, a tributary of the Brantas, contained 1,449 microplastic particles, a concentration 15 times greater than the average of other Indonesian rivers.

 

The young activist soon discovered much of this waste was not local, it had arrived from the US, Canada and Europe. Her letters moved the world and her activism contributed to the adoption of a European Green Deal initiative which will ban the export of plastic waste from the European Union by 2027.

 

Nina is now 17 years old and leads the River Warrior collective, which organizes clean-ups and educational programs that have so far involved over 3,000 children in the past few years. She has been nominated for the 2025 International Children’s Peace Prize for her work.

The Citarum river in eastern Java is considered to be one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Domestic waste, industrial discharges and tons of plastics from other countries mix into its waters. Yet, since 2021, its basin has also become a laboratory of solutions.

 

The Citarum Repair project seeks to stop the flow of plastic waste before it reaches the ocean. The initiative is a collaboration between the Greeneration Foundation, Waste4Change, a local waste management specialist, and RiverRecycle, a company which has patented a technology for the automatic capture of waste.

Its system, powered by solar energy, uses an ingenious set of collector wheels which float on the water and trap plastic waste in the rivers before it gets to the sea. Once collected, the waste is classified and transformed into products of value, such as boards for construction or pieces for the furniture industry.

 

Restoring the Citarum is not just about collecting visible plastic. Regional governments are also working to improve sewage collection and water purification, such that domestic and industrial waste cannot reach the river. Sanitation, monitoring water quality and water treatment infrastructure are an indispensable back-up to the cleaning and recycling solutions already underway.

 

Until now Citarum Repair has been collecting at least one ton of waste per day and has run environmental education programs on responsible consumption and public health for over 5,000 people. As such, the project combines automatic cleaning technology with recycling and social reintegration programs for riverside communities who traditionally lived from informal waste gathering.

 

Experiences like Citarum Repair show that the combination of waste capture technology, more efficient water treatment systems, and renewable energy, can speed up restoration of rivers across the world.

In 2020, Gary, Kelly and Sam Bencheghib, from Bali, proposed the ambitious mission to clean up all Indonesia’s rivers. That’s how Sungai Watch was formed, an organization which installs floating barriers in rivers to collect the plastic.

 

The solution might seem simple enough, but it has already recovered more than 700,000 kg of plastics, mainly from Bali. The team first maps the sources of pollution to detect the critical bottlenecks and optimize the placement of the barriers. Then it installs multiple barriers in each river and is also able to identify failures in waste management systems.

 

Sungai Watch has additionally organized emergency clean-ups at illegal waste tips, and alongside the rivers, to prevent plastic even reaching the water. At the same time, it is working with local communities on educational campaigns to promote changes in habits and collaborating with governments to design more efficient waste management plans.

 

The initiatives by Nina, Citarum Repair and Sungai Watch demonstrate that citizen action combined with innovation can halt the arrival of plastics before they reach rivers and oceans. But, to truly protect these ecosystems, it is necessary to go a step beyond and strengthen the infrastructure that guarantees access to clean water.

 

This implies investing in sanitation networks, water treatment plants and water re-use systems, especially in rapidly-growing urban areas. It is also essential to improve drainage and rainwater treatment so that torrential rain does not wash away waste, polluting the basins. Collaboration, among administrations, local communities and companies specialized in full water cycle management, is vital in ensuring that the rivers cease to become waste tips and return to becoming sources of life.

 

Sources:

 
Journalist specializing in International Cooperation Peruvian. With a Masters in International Journalism from Pompeu Fabra University (Spain). Awards include the Barcelona School of Management Prize for Best Gender Project and grants from the Earth Journalism Network. Writes about climate change, conservation and the indigenous peoples of Latin America for El País and Dialogue Earth, with a focus on solutions. Her stories can also be read in Periodistas por el planeta, France 24, Agencia EFE and Climate Tracker, among others. She has worked in communications and ‘storytelling’ for international organizations such as the United Nations and worked on the editorial team of the Climate Migration initiative.

Sustainability is understood as the development that meets the present needs without compromising the capacities of future generations, ensuring the balance between economic growth, environmental care and social welfare. In Sustainability we promote the awareness and difussion of good practices that allow to combine economic and social development with the preservation of natural resources.

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