Top 10 Brands Responsible for Plastic Waste in Bali

TheIndonesia.id - Plastic waste has become a problem faced by Indonesia. In a brand audit report on plastic waste in Bali in 2021, Sungai Watch revealed the top 10 companies whose products and packaging pollute the most in Bali: Danone Aqua, Wings Surya, Orang Tua Group, Santos Jaya Abadi, Unilever, Indofood, Mayora Indah, Coca-cola, Garuda Food, and Siantar Top.

"Of the 227,842 items of branded plastic waste that we analyzed, the company that littered the most in Bali was Danone Aqua with a total of 27,486 items of plastic waste or 12 percent of the total analyzed plastic waste," said Sungai Watch in the report.

Responding to this, the Assistant Deputy for Waste and Waste Management at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Rofi Alhanif, appreciated the brand audit of plastic waste that pollutes the environment in Bali.

"Recently, there was good research in Bali, brand audits on plastic waste so that it is known which company products end up in nature, be it in rivers or the sea," said Rofi in his statement, Wednesday, June 8, 2022.

According to the document, Danone Aqua's plastic waste mainly comes from the plastic waste of drinking water bottles (14,147 items) and bottles (12,352 items). The audit also found that almost half of the total plastic waste analyzed was in the form of single-use sachet packaging waste.

The top three companies whose sachet waste pollutes the environment the most are Santos Jaya Abadi, Unilever, and Indofood. Of the total 67,000 items, more than 30% were snack sachets, the report said. The percentage is equivalent to the total waste of coffee and instant noodle products.

These findings relatively reflect the market share position of each company in the fast-moving consumer goods segment. In the branded bottled water industry, for example, Danone Aqua is indeed listed as the largest bottled water producer with a product line that includes glass bottled water, disposable bottles, and 19-liter reused gallons.

Data compiled from various sources state that overall Danone Aqua controls 51.4% of the market, followed by Le Minerale (18.8%), Vit (4.4%), Club (3%), and Nestle (2.8%). The remaining 20% market share is the sales portion of more than 1,000 branded water companies throughout Indonesia.

According to Rofi, brand audits such as those conducted by Sungai Watch are useful for educating producers to be more responsible for recalling the products and plastic packaging they produce and dispose of in the open environment as waste. "Indeed, there are many challenges, especially for products such as sachets, which are considered a dilemma because the demand is high, especially in areas where the community or economy is weak," said Rofi, encouraging producers to actively explore plastic waste withdrawal mechanisms that involve various parties, including the community.

In the same dialogue, the Head of the Sub-Directorate for Producer Management, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ujang Solihin Sidik, acknowledged the dilemma of the massive distribution of single-use products, which is problematic in terms of packaging (problematic packaging), especially sachets.

Therefore, the government encourages producers to adopt a phasing-out of food products and packaging production with mini plastic containers as stated in the Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation Number 75 of 2019 concerning Roadmaps for Reducing Waste by Producers. In the regulation, bottled water producers are directed to stop the production and circulation of all mini-packages, below 1 liter, as of December 2029.
Similar rules apply to sachets of under 50 milliliters.

"The regulation applies to all levels of producers, both large and small. But in its implementation, the main target is big companies because they are the biggest contributors to plastic waste," said Ujang Solihin.