Community Collection and Recycling of PP, HDPE, LDPE, PET Plastic in East Java and Eastern Indonesia (PPRS)

Community Collection and Recycling of PP, HDPE, LDPE, PET Plastic in East Java and Eastern Indonesia (PPRS)This project partner recycles plastic waste collected in East Java and numerous Eastern Indonesian islands, including Madura, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and West Nusa Tenggara, a province that includes Lombok, Sumbawa, and the Gili Islands. Indonesia, which is made up of thousands of islands, is at the epicentre of the worlds plastic waste crisis. Poverty, the lack of waste collection and management infrastructure, combined with an explosion of single use

This project partner recycles plastic waste collected in East Java and numerous Eastern Indonesian islands, including Madura, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and West Nusa Tenggara, a province that includes Lombok, Sumbawa, and the Gili Islands.

Indonesia, which is made up of thousands of islands, is at the epicentre of the world’s plastic waste crisis. Poverty, the lack of waste collection and management infrastructure, combined with an explosion of single use plastics and goods sold in small sachets, have contributed to the problem. 

This project partner buys semi-processed plastic from small, independent waste collectors that, in turn, purchase it from informal sector waste pickers who collect plastic from from beaches, rivers, households and unmanaged landfills. Some of these collectors deliver the plastic waste to shredding or grinding facilities, while others operate their own shredding machines.  

In the case of PET bottles, this project buys unwashed and unprocessed bottles directly from waste pickers and aggregators, who gather them in sacks and sometimes compress them into bales for easier handling. 

The project partner cleans, grinds and recycles PET/PETE, HDPE, LDPE and PP plastic into pellets, which are sold to companies to make new products. 

Credits help this project collect more plastic, pay more to waste pickers, and run community programs in areas where their factories operate, including donations to orphanages, health care facilities, and local schools.  By working to recycle plastic waste, they aim to improve the environment, the local economy and open up employment opportunities in the towns they operate in.