Gembong Hanung, Jakarta – Most cities and regencies in Indonesia are failing to enforce single-use plastic restrictions, a situation worsened by inadequate monitoring systems and budgets needed to meet the national target of phasing out the use of plastics by 2030, a new report has found.
The report, published in late January by nonprofit Dietplastik Indonesia, formerly known as Diet Kantong Plastik (Plastic Bag Diet) movement, analyzed 101 regulations restricting throwaway plastics, such as shopping bags, food containers, cups and bottles, that were issued in 27 out of 38 provinces across the country. Most regulations take the form of city- or regency-level bylaws, while only a small portion are gubernatorial decrees, such as those issued in Jakarta, Bali and Riau. Dietplastik also surveyed consumers, businesses and regional administrations in its research.
Researchers found that despite almost all regions in Indonesia employing disposable plastic bans as early as 2018, public and business compliance remained low. In some locations, such as Jakarta, Bali, Bogor city in West Java and Kediri city in East Java, the report found between 55 and 70 percent of businesses complied with the regulations, while the public lagged further at only 40 to 65 percent.
In Bali, the first province to enact the ban in 2019, the report found that vendors at traditional markets still offered disposable plastic bags to customers, though the regulation was able to reduce plastic bag use in modern retailers by half.
A similar trend was observed in Jakarta, where its restriction had slashed plastic bag use by 80 percent within the first six months of plastic ban adoption in early 2020, but it ultimately faltered due to poor oversight.
According to Zakiyus Shadicky, author of the report and lead researcher at Dietplastik, the failures were caused by the absence of robust policy monitoring, which left authorities in the regions struggling to track and identify subjects violating their regulations.
"While some regulations [on plastic bans] regulate both punitive measures and economic incentives, local administrations remain unable to identify which should be penalized or rewarded under the prevailing regulations," Zakiyus told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Zakiyus added that the majority of city, regency and provincial administrations polled in the report lacked the mechanisms to measure the policy outcome of banning single-use plastic.
Uphill battle
Indonesia is consistently ranked among the world's top plastic polluters. According to data from the Environment Ministry, the country produced 24.8 million tonnes of waste throughout 2025, mostly unmanaged, with some 20 percent of which was plastic waste.
The ministry has set the target for restaurants and retailers to cut down on throwaway plastics at checkouts and for food manufacturers and plastic producers to stop using and producing certain sachet packages by 2030 as a way of reducing plastic waste.
But environmentalists expressed doubt that the central government could meet its target without bolder policy interventions and stronger enforcement to force the plastic industry to stop producing the polymers.
"The government doesn't have a comprehensive plastic phase-out strategy," Dietplastik researcher Zakiyus said.
Environmentalist Muhammad Kholid Basyaiban of East Java-based Center for Indonesian River Studies (BRUIN), who was not involved in the research, said on Sunday that the nationwide plastic waste problem came from inconsistent policy enforcement.
"As long as major producers can freely mass-produce single-use plastic packaging without strict oversight to comply with the reduction targets, the burden will keep falling on the public and local administrations," Kholid said.
He insisted that the government adopt a stronger extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy ordering plastic producers and food manufacturers to take bigger responsibility for the collection, transportation, recycling and disposal of plastic waste from their products after consumption.
In 2019, the then-environment and forestry ministry issued a ministerial regulation mandating such responsibilities for producers. The current Environment Ministry is reportedly set to upgrade the regulation into a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) by mid-year, which is expected to carry a stronger legal basis for EPR policy.
In his remarks commemorating the National Waste Awareness Day on Feb. 21, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said that solving the waste crisis requires multi-sectoral collaboration.
"I call upon all segments of the nation to take concrete action, starting from the smallest step. Let us begin with a commitment to reduce single-use plastics," Hanif said, also urging businesses to adopt a circular economy across all economic activities.
Source: https://asianews.network/most-regions-in-indonesia-failing-to-enforce-single-use-plastic-bans-report