Healthy Oceans Technology Innovation Challenge – Prevent Plastic Waste: Reducing plastic pollution in Jakarta through reusable packaging
Indonesia is one of the top contributors to global marine plastic pollution. Jakarta, the capital of the country, is also struggling with plastic waste, which often make their way to the rivers in and around the city.
Many of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) come in single-use sachets and pouches, mainly for the benefit of low-income buyers who buy products in small quantities. The relatively small sizes and multilayered design of the packaging make recycling challenging. They also have low economic value, resulting in low collection and recycling rates and subsequent leakage into the environment. As a result, single-use sachets and pouches make up approximately 76% of the plastic pollution.
The Jakarta city administration has taken steps to regulate plastic waste, including banning single-use plastic bags at supermarkets, department stores, and traditional markets. However, shifting consumer behavior away from buying products in single-use packaging, many of whom are low-income and have limited purchasing power, was also needed. Alner, a startup supported by Stichting Enviu Nederland, was selected in the “Prevent Plastic Waste” category of ADB’s Healthy Oceans Technology Innovation Challenge to implement its proposed solution to reduce plastic waste in Indonesia.
Alner offered returnable and reusable packaging made from recycled plastics (5% recycled PET and recycled high-density polyethylene) for daily essentials such as soaps, detergents, and spices. These containers can be reused up to 50 times.
Alner developed two mobile apps—one catering to points of sale, and the other for end users. However, the limited number of users prompted Alner to change its strategy for onboarding partners, making the mobile app optional and focusing on direct engagement with waste banks, warungs, and peer-to-peer sellers.
Alner supplied reusable packages to FMCG manufacturers, which used these for packing their products. These were then sent out by distributors to community-based points of sale. The bank sampah were targeted because these were outlets that allowed people who deposit recyclable materials to earn small sums of money. The women leaders, many of whom are managing the bank sampah, were also tapped to help raise awareness on the value of reusing containers.
Consumers who purchased the product also paid a minimal deposit fee for the packages, which they got back when they returned the empty package to the designated drop-off point. This amount ranged from $0.08-0.65 per container, depending on the size of the packaging.
Alner’s profits were shared with the warungs and the bank sampah, allowing the people to earn between $40 and $190 monthly.
The distributors collected the empty packages from the points of sale during their delivery of new supplies. Alner, meanwhile, claimed these packages from the distributors and sanitized using eco-friendly materials so these could be reused again. QR code stickers were also attached to each of the containers so that Alner could monitor how many use-reuse cycles each container had undergone.
The funding provided by ADB allowed Alner to add new sales points, bringing up the total number to 300 across Jakarta. It was also used to improve the home delivery service, which served over 1,000 end-users. The grant was also used by Alner to develop five new packaging types that can be reused at least 50 times before recycling, enhance its digital platforms, and acquire a cleaning and sanitizing machine to scale up their operations and a “reverse vending machine” to ensure that the reusable containers remain in the system.
A total of 57,500 reusable packaging kits were sold by Alner, which was equivalent to 100,239 single-use plastic containers prevented from ending up in landfills and oceans, according to the calculation of independent verification body Bintari Foundation.
The increase of sales points also means additional income for the waste banks, warungs, and other sellers, many of whom are women. Furthermore, Alner provided additional economic opportunities to women by partnering with Yayasan Rumah Pelangi, which trains women at waste banks in digital marketing.
Research by Alner showed that there were consumers who appreciated other benefits of the reusable containers, including being less prone to leaking compared to sachets and pouches. Meanwhile, the sellers saw themselves as changemakers in their communities.
The initiative drew the interest of Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry and led to discussions in coordination with ADB Indonesia Resident Mission.
Since its selection in the Technology Innovation Challenge, the team was able to tap funding from various sources, including TRANSFORM, which is a joint initiative between the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Unilever, and EY.