A Sharing Knowledge from #BeatPlasticPollution (Hari Lingkungan Hidup Sedunia 2023)

 Happy World Environment Day!

Coincidentally, the Closing of CAP-SEA Project (March 2023) and the recent World Environment Day Celebration of UNEP shared the similar tagline #BeatPlasticPollution

It encourages me to share the knowledge from The Design for Recycling (D4R) Study for Plastic Packaging from the CAP-SEA Project. One of the waste management challenges in the downstream is the segregation effort of PET plastic bottles into three components before recycling: the closure, label, and the body, since they are made from diverse plastic materials. Perhaps, they were not designed by the brand owners/ converters for the ease of recycling.

The D4R Study in Indonesia have proposed several criteria for PET mineral water bottles, in which the label should be <25% coverage and easy to remove (for reference: https://lnkd.in/gub_tA6q).

The figure above indicates three bottles' designs for current available products in the market (June 2023). Regarding the D4R label criterion, the design of the third bottle seems to be fully compatible for recycling. A waste collector only needs to remove the cap from the bottle's body, and so does the recycling will be more efficient than before. The third bottle is also made from the recycled PET (rPET), declaring that the closed-loop circular economy of plastic material is really possible.

For the better plastic circularity in Indonesia, the remaining tasks lay to us as consumers:

1) Do we support the implementation of a mandatory D4R criteria for all products distributed in Indonesia? The waste problem in the temporary- and final disposal site in our city really matters. Together we can urge the importance of the recycling of our daily waste.

2) How strong is our commitment and our willingness-to-pay for a better waste management in Indonesia? Even if the mandatory D4R criteria is applied, the segregation from source (Pilah Sampah) and the "reverse logistic" needs to be well-financed (Iuran Sampah/ Retribusi), especially for the plastic packaging located in sub-urban/ rural areas or outside the Java Island (where plastic recycling factories usually do not exist).

As consumers, or as the part of civil society, we always have the right and opportunity to choose, for establishing a better world.

#circulareconomy #recycling #wastemanagement

Diposting pertama kali di LinkedIn

Disiplin Pribadi Mendorong Tumbuh Kembangnya Kreativitas

Demikian kiranya kalimat yang tertulis pada Prasasti Ki Suratman yang berada di Kampus SMA Taruna Nusantara Magelang.

Dilihat dari sudut pandang etimologi, kata 'disiplin' tentunya tidak terasosiasi erat dengan kata 'kreativitas'. Keduanya bahkan cenderung bertolak belakang, mengingat kata 'disiplin' mengandung arti menjalankan hal yang sama secara kontinyu, sebaliknya, kata 'kreativitas' terasosiasi dengan kata 'inovasi' - baru/ hal lain yang berbeda dari yang sudah pernah ada.

Namun demikian, saya menerjemahkan kalimat tersebut mengandung arti, "Bisa itu karena biasa. Jika kamu berdisiplin, kamu akan berkemampuan, sehingga dapat lebih cepat mengerjakan suatu hal yang bersifat rutin. Selanjutnya, akhirnya kamu akan mempunyai waktu lebih yang kamu idam-idamkan untuk memikirkan dan mengerjakan hal yang lain - sesuai kreativitasmu".

Terjemahan di atas bisa jadi keliru, karena saya pribadi belum pernah bertanya langsung pada Ki Suratman, maupun melakukan studi terkait hal tersebut. Akan tetapi, menganut paham Post-Modernisme - di mana semua kebenaran adalah relatif - secara mantap dan meyakinkan saya yakin dengan kebenaran hal tersebut, karena rasa-rasanya cukup sesuai dengan konteks kehidupan yang saya jalani ini.

Saya perlu lebih disiplin dalam menulis. Selain karena menurut Pramoedya Ananta Toer menulis adalah bekerja untuk keabadian, menulis ternyata adalah sebuah cara agar dunia mengenal kita.

KP, 8 Maret 2023