Page 20 from: Recycling International: Free Issue, 2 2023
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THREE-WHEELER PICK-UP
Most household waste is collected by
14 small three-wheeler trucks that can
reach even the most remote places.
‘We do have one big collection truck
but that is useless in the narrow alleys
of the kampongs.’
Webster points out the collection sys-
tem set up by STOP is not about high
valuable plastics such as PET bottles.
‘You won’t find many plastic bottles in
our streams – they’re mostly covered
by the informal sector and the waste
pickers. We focus on the total waste
which includes the hard-to-recycle
materials like multi-layer bags, food
packaging but also nappies – basically
the household waste mix.’
ON THEIR OWN FEET
Community participation is at the
heart of the project which was handed
over to the local government in March
2023. Since the start of the pro-
gramme in 2019, STOP Pasuruan has
provided waste collection to more
than 132 000 people in Lekok and the
Nguling municipality, created 120 per-
manent jobs and collected over 5 000
tonnes of waste, 700 tonnes of which
was plastic.
Nestlé was the first food and bever-
age company to join the project as a
strategic partner and is the majority
funder of STOP Pasuruan. Other
funders include Siegwerk, Borealis,
Borouge and Nova Chemicals.
that is 95% Muslim it is crucial to
involve religious groups and leaders
and have their full support. Webster
adds: ‘Their message was “cleaniness
is part of our faith”. In other words:
you cannot be a good Muslim if you
still dump your waste.’
‘We’ve come far but we’ve managed
to win the hearts and minds of the
communities. They were used to
burn their waste, now each household
pays the equivalent of one euro
per month for their waste to be col-
lected.’
‘WASTE GUY’ WEBSTER
Proper waste management requires
lasting efforts and significant contribu-
tions from all stakeholders involved
and is vital for the health and well-
being of our local communities, says
Webster.
A visit to a landfill site in the early 90s
filled him with both horror and fasci-
nation and he has been working ever
since to grapple with what he calls
‘the global waste emergency’. He
worked in Ghana and Congo among
other countries. Compared to Africa,
the biggest advantage in setting up
waste management in Indonesia is the
infrastructure, which on East Java is
quite good. ‘There are proper roads,
even in the more remote places. Also,
there is massive industrial develop-
ment so both suppliers and buyers of
recyclables are close by.’
COLLECTING AND PROCESSING
Webster and his team take me to
STOP’s Mumdesma Lekok collection &
sorting station where the waste col-
lected from the Pasaruan communities
comes in to be manually separated.
The facility can handle up to 30
tonnes of waste per day. After sort-
ing, the plastics go to dedicated recy-
clers for further processing while most
of the other waste materials are land-
filled. ‘At this stage we cannot recycle
everything but landfilling is still a
much better solution than illegal
dumping or burning,’ he argues. The
danger of open burning is expected
to be a big driver for controlled col-
lection and disposals in the future, in
Indonesia as elsewhere.Small three-wheeler trucks can reach even the most remote places to collect the waste.
ONLY THE BEGINNING FOR BOREALIS
Initiated by chemical plastics recycling specialists Borealis and co-founded
with sustainability consultancy major Systemic, Project STOP aims to pre-
vent 25 000 tonnes of plastic from polluting the environment each year and
to create 1 000 full-time jobs.
‘We want to showcase with our partners how to end the plastic waste issue,’
says Borealis ceo Thomas Gangl. ‘Plastics are key for prosperity and a mod-
ern life. We need to implement waste management solutions to avoid any
negative impact to the environment from those valuable materials. Turning
challenges into opportunities, this approach is in line with Borealis’ commit-
ment to accelerating the circular economy for plastics.’
As Project STOP continues to grow, Borealis look forward to welcoming new
strategic partners ‘whose skills and resources will be crucial to addressing
this significant global challenge together’.
Borealis’ expansion commitment will extend effective waste management to
two million people in Indonesia by 2025.
Project STOP’s four main goals are to:
1. Stop plastic leakage into the environment at source by establishing col-
lection services for all households and businesses, increasing waste collec-
tion points and sorting facilities, and recruiting more collection workers.
2. Create circular systems that generate added value from waste and use
resources more efficiently.
3. Ensure sustained financing and economic viability of waste management
systems.
4. Provide benefit to local communities by creating jobs in waste manage-
ment whilst reducing the negative impacts of waste mismanagement on
public health, tourism and fisheries.
Manual separation.
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