Indonesia’s Anti-Plastic Drive

A leading environmental organization used the month of Ramadan as a platform in a campaign against the use of plastic in Indonesian mosques. Greenpeace Indonesia, and the Indonesian Ulema Council, launched the campaign to mark World Environment Day, on June 5, at Pondok Indah Grand Mosque in South Jakarta.  “Plastic waste is a major issue in Indonesia. In 2015, Indonesia ranked second highest in the amount of waste produced,” Muharram Atha Rasyadi, a Greenpeace campaigner, said.  He was referring to a study published in the journal Science in February that year saying Indonesia’s, 250 million people, produced 3.2 million tons of plastic waste in 2010, some 1.29 million of which ended up in the ocean. The figures placed the country second to China that contributed 8.8 million tons of waste, 27 percent of the world total.