Trade Minister urges public to bring shopping bags to reduce plastic use
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Trade Minister Budi Santoso has urged the public to start reducing the use of single-use plastic as a simple step to help traders while maintaining the stability of prices for essential goods amid global supply challenges for plastic raw materials.
Speaking to ANTARA at the Antara Heritage Center in Jakarta on Thursday, Budi said that the current global supply chain conditions are making plastic raw materials, particularly naphtha, increasingly difficult to obtain.
According to him, shipping disruptions and competition between countries for raw materials are causing distribution to slow and plastic prices to potentially rise.
“This is actually an opportunity for us, starting from small things. From small things, we start to use plastic wisely, which may or may not be necessary,” Budi said.
“If we bring bags, it means traditional markets also reduce plastic use, right? Because when buying, traditional markets provide plastic. Plastic is expensive; traders are confused if they have to buy expensive plastic, which then affects other basic necessities,” he explained.
Budi believes public participation is important because plastic is used as packaging for various food commodities. Reducing plastic use is seen as able to help suppress traders’ operational costs while maintaining price stability at the consumer level.
Although global supplies are under pressure, he assured that the prices of essential goods domestically remain relatively stable.
“In general, there hasn’t been any significant increase yet. Yesterday I checked the market in Gresik; everything was very cheap. Chillies and all sorts of things had standard prices. On average, even below the HET. So I think it hasn’t significantly affected prices,” Budi stated.
The government is currently continuing to coordinate with industry players and Indonesian trade representatives abroad to expand sources of plastic raw materials from various countries so that national industry needs remain fulfilled.