🏢 NGO behind single use-plastics bans

The Ocean Conservancy's, a watchdog organization, report "Stemming the Tide: Land-Based Strategies for a Plastic-Free Ocean," which was published in 2018, highlights the importance of reducing the use of single-use plastics and improving waste management infrastructure in order to address the problem of plastic pollution in the world's oceans that was based on a paper published in Science in 2015. The paper, titled "The environmental costs of plastic," was one of the first to estimate the amount of plastic that enters the ocean from mismanaged waste on land and to rank all 192 coastal countries based on their contribution to this problem. The paper found that around 80% of marine plastic pollution comes from land-based sources, with the largest contributors being China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.

🚫🛍️ Rise of banning single-use plastics in Indonesia

The report specifically mentions Indonesia as one of the top contributors to ocean plastic pollution, and recommends that the country take steps to reduce its plastic waste, including by implementing bans on single-use plastics. It is possible that the Ocean Conservancy's report may have influenced the decision of some cities in Indonesia to implement bans on single-use plastics.

Bali has implemented a ban on single-use plastics in an effort to reduce plastic pollution and protect the environment. The ban, which was implemented in 2018, prohibits the use, distribution, and production of single-use plastics such as straws, cutlery, and plastic bags. The city of Bandung in West Java also implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2018, and in 2019, the city of Yogyakarta banned the use of single-use plastic straws.

⛔ ‘False narrative’ of 2015 study and 'waste colonialism'

The Ocean Conservancy has apologized for blaming Indonesia for the majority of plastic pollution in the world's oceans and for removing the report from its website. The apology was welcomed by Gaia, an alliance of 800 waste-reduction groups in 90 countries, and by Break Free From Plastic, a global movement of over 2,000 organizations. These groups stated that the report had caused harm by ignoring the role of developed countries in overproducing plastic and exporting plastic waste to developing countries. Hundreds of environmental, health, and social justice groups in Asia criticized the practice as 'waste colonialism.'

The report was criticized for wrongly blaming certain countries for the majority of plastic pollution and for promoting the idea that burning plastic waste was a solution to the problem. The retraction of the report presents an opportunity to end the longstanding practice of 'waste colonialism' of developed countries exporting their waste to developing countries.