Plastic Prices Rise 40 Percent, Pramono Urges Residents to Switch to Banana Leaf Wrapping
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung has urged the public to use more environmentally friendly traditional materials amid a 40 percent rise in plastic prices.
“We sometimes have to return to traditional methods, using banana leaf wrapping and the like,” Pramono told reporters when met at the Jakarta Timur City Hall Complex on Sunday (12/4/2026).
He views the plastic price increase as a momentum for innovation as well as reducing public dependence on plastic in daily life.
Pramono added that if the public continues to rely on plastic amid the price rise, the situation will become an additional burden.
“If the situation remains like this, it will definitely become a burden,” he said.
For information, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government recorded a plastic price increase of 30–40 percent since the end of March 2026, with the most significant surge occurring in West Jakarta.
Head of the DKI Jakarta Industry, Trade, Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises Department (PPKUKM), Elisabeth Ratu Rante Allo, stated that the increase affected various types of plastic across all Jakarta areas.
“Types of plastic such as plastic bags, food or beverage packaging plastic of the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene (PE) types have experienced price increases across all regions,” she said in a written statement received by Kompas.com on Saturday (11/4/2026).
Meanwhile, food or beverage packaging plastic made of PET also experienced an increase of around 35 percent to Rp 22,000 per pack from the previous Rp 15,771. The highest increase again occurred in West Jakarta at up to Rp 24,600, while the lowest was in South Jakarta at Rp 18,111.
As for PE material plastic, it experienced varied increases between regions, with an average of around 30 percent to Rp 21,000 per pack from the previous Rp 16,048. The highest price surge occurred in West Jakarta reaching Rp 36,733, while the lowest in Central Jakarta at Rp 15,333.
Elisabeth explained that the plastic price increase was triggered by geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East impacting the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That area is one of the world’s major petrochemical production centres due to the availability of oil and gas as the main raw materials for plastic.
The situation has caused disruptions in the global plastic raw material supply chain to date. On the other hand, domestic production is said to only meet around 40 percent of the national plastic raw material needs.
“The remaining around 60 percent still relies on imports,” she emphasised.