Recycling Materials and Plastic Packaging by Big Brands Around the World, is it Effective?

By: Dira Oktavia

Over the past few years, giant brands such as Unilever, Nestle, Adidas, Zara, Uniqlo, L'Oréal, Coca-Cola, and others have actively promoted material and packaging recycling activities to reduce waste that pollutes the land and oceans, which disrupts ecosystems. This campaign arose after several environmental organizations protested with demonstrations and there was even a movement to boycott by not buying products from that brand.

For example, Uniqlo uses recycled polyester materials for 50% of all materials used into recycled materials by 2030. Then, Nestle on its website explains "We are committed to designing 100% of our plastic packaging to be recycled. By 2025, we estimate it will be more than 95%. Currently, 85.8% of our total packaging has been recycled."

From this statement, is using recycled materials and packaging effective in reducing waste, which is currently estimated at 2.01 billion tons annually based on estimated data from wordbank.org?

Starting to Abandon Plastic Packaging, One of the Goals of the Adiwiyata School Movement in Indonesia by Dira Oktavia [Part I]

Adiwiyata or Green School is one of the awards given by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to schools that have successfully implemented environmental and cultural care initiatives in schools with the desire to encourage students to understand and participate as teachers in environmental protection. Adiwiyata is basically a program that aims to solve various problems related to environmental pollution.

One of the programs implemented in schools in Adiwiyata is not to use plastic for food packaging. Parents and students are asked to prepare water bottles and lunch boxes that can be used repeatedly to buy food in the canteen. Canteen staff are also prohibited from using plastic to wrap food. The aim is to ensure students can learn how to reduce the use of plastic waste, especially at school. This applies to several kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. This activity has been implemented in schools in Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar, and other big cities.

Starting to Abandon Plastic Packaging, One of the Goals of the Adiwiyata School Movement in Indonesia by Dira Oktavia [part II]

Apart from banning the use of plastic packaging in schools, another program implemented in schools is the creation of waste banks. This waste bank is an idea that separates organic and non-organic waste to be recycled into economically valuable waste. Organic waste such as leaf litter will be used as fertilizer and waste such as paper will be handed over to scavengers so that schools can have another source of income to build better school facilities.

This activity is still carried out in schools because in 2023 Indonesia itself will have 7.2 million tons of waste that is not managed properly, so students, teachers, and school staff need to be aware of the importance of reducing waste for the environment.