Indonesia’s Plastic Problem: Why Sorting Waste Must Come Before Recycling

By Aulia Salsabella Suwarno, Research Associate: The sixth round of negotiations for a legally binding global plastics treaty in Geneva ended without significant progress. While some countries called for reducing plastic production, others - including Indonesia - emphasised downstream measures such as waste management.

The downstream stage begins once plastic products are discarded by consumers. At this point, waste can be sorted into categories such as organic and inorganic, collected, and transported to storage facilities before reaching its final destination. Some of it enters the recycling process, while non-recyclables are disposed of.

These steps are vital to prevent leakage. Indonesia generates an estimated 56,000 tonnes of mismanaged waste annually that ends up in the ocean, placing the country amongst the world's top 20 marine plastic polluters. Yet government policy remains focused on the final downstream stages - recycling and disposal - through initiatives such as renewed investments in Waste-to-Energy plants and revisions to the Adipura city cleanliness award, which now disqualifies cities with open dumping landfills.

By contrast, earlier steps in the chain - collection and sorting - receive far less attention. Only 10% of Indonesia's waste is currently sorted for recycling and recovery, with the informal sector bearing most of the burden. Informal workers focus on high-value items such as PET bottles, but even these become less attractive if contaminated with food waste. Low-value plastics such as bags and multilayer sachets are largely ignored, slipping into landfills and waterways.

Community-led waste banks supplement the system by encouraging households to sort waste in exchange for cash. Some have achieved success, but most struggle with economic viability. A waste bank in Bogor, for example, collapsed under the strain of thin profit margins, high transport costs, and limited government support.

The urgency of reform is growing. The government plans to make extended producer responsibility (EPR) mandatory, shifting accountability to businesses. Currently treated as voluntary, EPR requires producers to cut waste by 30% by 2029. Industries warn, however, that without a reliable supply of sorted waste, recycling targets will be impossible to meet. Domestic recyclables remain scarce and often fail to meet quality standards, forcing companies to import feedstock.

Indonesia need not reinvent the wheel. Japan faced a similar waste crisis in the latter half of the 20th century. After initially expanding incinerators and landfills, the country confronted shrinking land availability and overcapacity. By the 1990s, Japan pivoted towards waste reduction at the source. Municipalities required residents to segregate their waste and provided incentives to communities and collectors. This not only reduced landfill loads but also cut sorting costs and improved recycling quality. The success of this system later underpinned Japan's effective EPR implementation in the 2000s.

Indonesia can learn from this trajectory and leapfrog to a stronger system. Consumer participation in waste sorting is essential. Yet many households that attempt it find their efforts undermined when sorted waste is mixed together in collection trucks. A basic government intervention - such as separate collection schedules for organic and inorganic waste - would send the right signal and make sorting meaningful.

Plastic pollution can only be curbed through joint action by all stakeholders, but it must begin with government leadership. Indonesia's strategy should address the entire waste value chain, starting not at the end with disposal, but at the beginning - with sorting.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.