REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- An environmental foundation has expressed concern over the increasing piles of plastics and Styrofoam garbage in the country. The Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Kehati) stated on Tuesday that garbage generated from human activity, in the form of plastic and cork, has increasingly threatened human life and the environment.
"Plastic wastes and Styrofoam have threatened micro-plastic particles in Jakarta," Kehati Executive Director MS Sembiring stated in a press release received in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Quoting Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data, Sembiring noted that Jakarta's garbage production was increasing every year. In 2016, waste production reached 7,099.08 cubic meters, an increase from the previous year, which was at 7.046.39 cubic meters.
Officers clean up waste in Kali Adem area, North Jakarta on January 1, 2018.
Out of all the garbage produced, only 84.7 percent could be transported. The rest is wasted in nature, including dumping into the sea.
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"It is bad. Garbage that is not transported to the place of dumping and partly flowed into the sea includes mostly Styrofoam and other types of plastics," he revealed.
A scavenger selects plastic waste piling up in Muara Angke beach, North Jakarta, on January 30, 2018.
In addition to threatening human health, microplastic particles, which are mainly derived from plastic wastes and plastic food packaging, are also very dangerous for the survival of flora and fauna. "Therefore, the Jakarta Provincial Government must have a special strategy to address this problem to save Jakarta from the microplastic wastes," he explained.
Kehati hoped that the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government could utilize the momentum of the international world to intensively curb plastic waste.
The two important international days which are celebrated in 2018, namely Earth Day (April 22) and World Environment Day (June 5), shared the same theme of plastic pollution.
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