Plastic poses threat to earth's survival

JAKARTA (JP): Plastic, an indispensable product of modern life, is now not only a menace, but also a serious threat to earth's survival, a plastic expert said yesterday.

"No one can deny that plastic has made our life easier and that we cannot avoid using it," Welly Walalangi, the chairman of the Association of Plastic Recycling Industry, said.

Welly told a seminar on the role of retail businesses in conserving the environment that, in spite of increasing public awareness of the plastic menace, its use had continued to grow.

"We will have to decide on the efficiency of its use. To whom does this earth belong? Plastic or human?" he said.

Of his own young industry, Welly said it has made little technological progress in recycling plastic.

Only 10 percent of the 600 tons of new plastics consumed in Indonesia each year came from recycling, he said.

In the meantime, the use of plastic has continued to grow.

Plastic now makes up about 2.5 percent of all waste.

In Metropolitan Jakarta, the size of plastic waste reaches 419.7 cubic meter per day, while in other big cities, they reach 188.31 cubic meters a day.

"This inorganic waste is becoming a grave problem because manufacturers tend to package their products in plastics. From cosmetics, toys, office equipment, clothing to drinking water, they all use plastics excessively. Their goal? Simply to make their products more attractive," Welly said.

He estimated that if each of the 63 companies producing bottled mineral water in Indonesia used 400 tons of plastic annually, their combined contribution would amount to tens of thousands of plastic waste each year.

Society should reconsider their current lifestyle which emphasized on practicality, he said.

"The inability to manage city's waste should have warned us that households products's contribution to the mounting plastic waste was not small.

"This kind of lifestyle should be given a serious thought to end the prolonged problem of managing waste," he said.

The seminar yesterday was organized by Body Shop, a manufacturer of skin and health products.

Didik J. Rachbini, an economist of the Mercu Buana University in Jakarta, told the seminar that retailers and consumers alone cannot be expected to reduce plastic uses.

Didik suggested an indirect preventive measure, targeting at industries, especially those making consumer products.

He suggested the use of financial incentives and punishments to encourage manufacturers to turn to recycling and discourage those whose activities could harm the environment. (09)