A number of middle-class shoppers said they were unaware of the Pay-for-Plastic campaign at 74 shopping centres during the Jakarta Great Sale Festival, but they confirmed they would take their own bags to support it.
Grace Adeline, an English teacher, said she would take her own bags or ask the supermarket to pack her groceries in a cardboard box if the campaign was running in her local supermarket situated in her apartment complex in West Jakarta.
“Honestly, I will be reluctant to pay for plastic bags, so I will probably bring my own bags. I wouldn’t bother going to another supermarket just because of the plastic-bag policy,” she told The Jakarta Post.
Marlene Danusutedjo, a public relations director at a luxury hotel in South Jakarta, said she would be glad to support the campaign in the global fight against the overuse of plastics, which have a devastating effect upon the environment.
“I will support any movement that is intended for the greater good. I don’t mind bringing my own bags,” she said.
Ria Iskandar, a resident of Kapuk in North Jakarta, said she had already begun to reduce her use of plastic after an enlightening visit to a forest in Kalimantan.
“The Pay-for-Plastic campaign is a good idea. I will not voluntarily pay for plastic, so I will bring my own cloth bag that can be reused. If I only buy small-sized products, I can just toss them in my bag,” she told the Post.
The Pay-for-Plastic campaign, which was launched last month by lawyer Tiza Mafira with an online petition on the change.org, has received over 7,000 signatures. The campaign is urging the city administration to send letters to shopping malls and retailers to support the action.
Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has declared June as a “no-plastic month”, much longer than the requested one-day campaign.
However, retailers apparently need more than a letter or call to join the campaign.
The deputy secretary-general of the Indonesia Retailers Association (Aprindo), Satria Hamid Ahmadi, said the city should play an active role in disseminating information about the campaign. He said it would be hard for Jakartans to form the new habit, as they were accustomed to receiving free plastic bags.
“We will inform our members and ask for their feedback, but we cannot force them to participate in the campaign for the whole month,” he said.
Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) said the YLKI supported the effort to reduce plastic bags, adding that Jakarta was way behind other capital cities around the world in launching a policy to reduce plastic bags.
Jakarta produces around 8,000 tonnes of garbage every day, of which 1,000 tonnes is plastic waste including 500 tonnes of plastic bags. However, the city has no special dump site to handle plastic waste, which can take 1,000 years to decompose and releases toxic fumes if it is burned.
“Educating people needs to be carried out in stages. For example, shoppers could be given two or three plastic bags for free, but then would have to pay for the fourth one,” Tulus said.
He added that Governor Joko Widodo should take a moment during the city’s anniversary celebrations to commit to a firm policy on reducing the use of plastic bags.
