Jakarta – The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a global non-profit organization, has pledged $36 million for investment in sustainable projects or solutions to help Indonesia reduce ocean plastic pollution by 70 percent by 2025 and reach near zero leakage by 2040, it said in a statement on Monday.
The Alliance said it expects the fund would help attract more funds from the public and private sectors to investments in the plastic waste management sector, multiplying the investment size by up to five times.
Jacob Duer, the president and the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Alliance, said collaboration was vital to eliminating plastic waste from the environment.
"In our experience, mobilizing philanthropic funding is a crucial initial step in developing, deploying, and derisking sustainable solutions that may be scaled and repeated for greater effect," Duer said in a statement.
"No single organization can address a problem of this magnitude on its own. Consequently, one of our goals is to catalyze extra investment from governments and development institutions in the form of blended finance that will mobilize private funds to improve waste management and create a circular economy for plastic," Duer said.
The Alliance planned to fund various waste management projects across the archipelago, including its flagship program in Malang. The organization and its partners set goals to divert 60,000 tonnes of plastic garbage from the environment by 2025, recycle up to 50 percent of plastics on its projects by 2025, and engage 2.7 million Indonesians in behavioral modification programs.
Duer pledged during the Tri Hita Karana Blended Finance Forum, a G20 side event aiming to mobilize $30 billion in funding to support projects connected to sustainable development goals.
Last May, the Alliance committed to providing $29 million in grants for the construction of an integrated waste management system in Malang in collaboration with the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs and the Malang district.
The Alliance began operating in the nation in 2019 and has been actively helping the Indonesian government in the latter's National Plastic Action Partnership. This multi-stakeholder collaboration aims to achieve a percent reduction in Indonesia's marine plastic debris by 2025.
Sri Indrastuti Hadiputranto, NPAP's chair, expressed her gratitude for the Alliance's invaluable partnership. "Ending plastic waste is a complex challenge that requires comprehensive action, supported by the strong public-private-people collaboration to address various systemic gaps for sustainable waste management," she said.