Plastic waste management in Jakarta, Indonesia: evaluation of material flow and recycling scheme

In Jakarta, Indonesia, municipalities collect plastic mixed with other waste, scavengers recover plastic waste by picking through waste, and some citizens recover plastic at community-based waste management centers called waste banks. The fact that each stakeholder operates separately means that the actual amount of plastic recycled in Jakarta is not well-known. This research evaluated the amount of plastic recovered at the source, identified the amount of plastic waste recycled using a material flow analysis (MFA), and proposed alternative solutions to improve plastic waste management in Jakarta. Through interviews, the amount of plastic waste recovered was determined; each scavenger recovers 239kg/month and each waste bank recovers 260kg/month. Through the MFA, the rate of plastic recycled was identified as 24%, leaving 76% of plastic waste in landfills or in the environment. There are several actions that can be taken to promote higher recycling rates in Jakarta: conducting separation at source; integrating scavenger activity with waste bank and municipality collection; providing a material recovery facility at final disposal sites using sorting technology to recover plastics; and using alternative technology such as chemical recycling or thermal treatment to treat plastic waste that is not readily recycled through mechanical recycling.