Woman turns plastic waste into a money-making asset
Woman turns plastic waste into a money-making asset
By Joko Suwarno
BOGOR, West Java (JP): The rainy season has returned.
Pedestrians gingerly tread sodden streets and motorists drive
slowly around potholes while clogged drains overflow.
Plastic waste is one of the culprits clogging the drains, and
is a large part of the inorganic waste that piles up each day. In
Jakarta alone the number of plastic bags thrown away each day is
estimated to be able to cover 2,600 soccer fields.
Plastic does not decay, and burning it is hazardous to
people's health and the environment.
But plastic waste in the hands of Asti, the daughter of a
former scavenger, can be transformed into useful materials, such
as plastic resin which can be molded into a range of plastic
products.
Her business is a haven for scavengers. It also helps solve
complex waste disposal problems.
Asti, 37, has been in the waste business for some 25 years.
From a humble beginning as an assistant to her father, a
scavenger turned waste coordinator, she built up a successful
plastic-waste business. She is now diversifying into other areas
of business with better prospects.
The plastic waste business has been declining in recent years.
But Asti, supported by her other businesses, continues to operate
a waste processing factory to help hundreds of scavengers
survive. Asti, a mother of two, has been on the haj pilgrimage.
She said her father, Takim, had succeeded, through
perseverance and resourcefulness, in managing a center for the
collection of waste, including broken glass, scrap metal, cans,
bones and plastic.
In 1975 Takim established a business titled Usaha Bersama
(Working Together) in an office on Jl. Raya Semplak No. 400,
Bogor.
Takim and his family thought the name reflected the
cooperative efforts of the family and the many scavengers working
with them.
For the extended family of scavengers the business became a
place to share their joys and sorrows.
Usaha Bersama initially had an office, a truck and Rp 5
million in capital. But the enterprise grew quickly.
"In 1985 we bought a plastic-melting machine," Asti said. Now
the business has two plastic-melting machines and eight other
machines.
The machines process various kinds of plastic waste into
plastic resin. The resin is sold to plastic factories at the Pulo
Gadung industrial estate in East Jakarta, Kapuk in West Jakarta
and Tangerang in West Java.
Asti sells 60 tons of plastic resin a month. Its price ranges
from Rp 1,500 to Rp 2,000 a kilogram.
She employs 50 people in her factory, including school drop-
outs and housewives.
"I like my work," Upar, a 14-year-old worker, said.
Free
"The children are paid Rp 2,000 a day and get free boarding
and lodging," Takim said.
Takim said that helping children through the business is much
better than letting them loiter.
"Leaving the children doing nothing could lead them to commit
crimes," he added. Adult workers are paid from Rp 3,000 to Rp
5,000 in net daily wages.
To ensure adequate supplies of plastic waste, Asti has
supplemented the waste from scavengers in Bogor, with collections
from around 100 garbage collection enterprises in Greater
Jakarta.
Eko, a garbage collector at Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said
he employed 10 workers and managed 15 "junk men".
"Each junk man employs between 10 and 30 workers," Eko said.
Asti, an elementary-school graduate, oversees some 15,000
scavengers.
But times are changing.
Since 1990, when the price of plastic resin dropped and
imported waste flooded the local market, Asti's business has
suffered.
Once worth Rp 4,000 a kilogram, the price of plastic resin has
dropped to Rp 2,000, Asti said.
Imported waste, she said, lowered the price of plastic waste
to the value of raw materials for plastic.
Competition among producers of plastic resin caused a further
drop in prices from between Rp 1,500 and Rp 2,000 a kilogram to
between Rp 700 and Rp 1,000.
"Prices dropped because of oversupply. I am now selling
plastic resin for between Rp 700 and Rp 1,000 a kilogram," Asti
complained.
Meanwhile, she said, the price of plastic waste from her
suppliers has remained the same: between Rp 300 and Rp 700
depending on the type of plastic. Her sales volume has also
dropped to between 15 and 20 tons a month.
Asti doubts that her business will survive.
"If these conditions remain, my business will be on the brink
of bankruptcy. There is not even enough money to pay the
electricity bill."
In the old days, Asti reminisced, the factories looked for raw
material at her place, and now it is the other way around.
"Formerly the factories asked for help, and now I am the one
seeking aid," she said bitterly.
Asti is aware that thousands of scavengers depend, directly or
indirectly, on her factory. She has decided to keep the business
going.
Fortunately Asti has other businesses to subsidize the plastic
resin factory: She has a business which sells construction
materials, a business which hulls rice and she has a retail shop.
Moreover, Asti hopes that one day the price of recycled
plastic resin will rise.