TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Based on the World Bank’s Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2023, Indonesia is the world’s 5th largest generator of plastic waste in the ocean from the 2020-2023 period. Indonesia’s rank dropped three positions since 2018, placing the country just behind China as the largest waste producer in the world.

“Which means there’s a decline in waste production,” said Secretary of the Director General of Marine and Marine Space Management of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Kusdiantoro at his office on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.

According to World Bank records, Indonesia generated around 65.2 million tons of plastic waste into the sea in 2020. Above Indonesia is Brazil which produced 79 million tons of waste, India with 189 million tons, the United States with 265 million tons, and the largest is China with 395 million tons.

Other countries included in the list of the 10 largest waste producing countries are Russia, Mexico, Germany, Japan, and France.

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Kusdiantoro stated that Indonesia’s improvement is inseparable from the efforts of the central and regional governments to raise public awareness about plastic waste issues.

One example is the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries’ program to clean up plastic waste in the sea in 12 locations. Along the way, 18 regional governments took the initiative to clean up waste heading to the ocean with their own designated budgets.

“More and more regions are involved with their own allotted budget,” he said, adding that in 2022-2023 the number of regions participating was still small but a big jump was recorded this year.

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“The awareness is growing, and we are optimistic we’ll be taken off from the top ten list of biggest waste producing countries in the world,” said Kusdiantoro.

Previously, a researcher at the Oceanography Research Center of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Muhammad Reza Cordova disclosed that plastic waste from Indonesia might reach the African Sea in less than a year. The research conducted by Reza used drifters that were spread to several points where waste piled up on the island of Java.

“It could even reach the South Atlantic Ocean in less than five years,” said Reza.