A Letter from Indonesia : CLOCC: How an initiative aims to protect Oceans through Clean Communities

This initiative by Avfall Norge (Waste Norway) came to life in 2018. The project is supported by Norad (the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation), and is a part of the Norwegian government’s development programme to reduce marine plastic pollution and microplastics. The project was allocated a budget of 40 million NOK from 2018 - 2022. The International Solid Waste Association is one of a number of proud partners to this project.

Their vision is to achieve healthy societies and a clean environment through inclusive and sustainable communities, green jobs, and business opportunities in local circular economies.

The goals are to prevent and significantly reduce marine litter and microplastics pollution, through improved municipal solid waste collection and controlled management of waste and increased recycling of suitable materials.

CLOCC’s approach is an Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM) framework. This is a highly participatory process where the stake- holders make decisions and choose the systems that meet their needs.

We believe that shared knowledge can build capacity within local authorities and stakeholders in charge of waste management.

CLOCC uses a blended learning approach, which consists of a mix of in-person training, workshops, field trips and site visits, digital lectures, video material and e-learning. This way, the project builds capacities and skills at the local level, which is key to achieving sustainable and improved waste management. Consequently they can reduce time, costs and the environmental footprint related to travel. All this while still drawing on the benefits of in-person learning and interactions.

The team cooperates with, and contributes to building the capacity of local authorities in charge of waste management in the communities they work in. A key target is to develop strong local waste management plans. They utilise a strategic approach, ISWM (Integrated Sustainable Waste Management), and draw on the knowledge from our network of highly skilled waste management practitioners and trainers.

CLOCC delivers training and network possibilities, support development of local waste management plans and access to finance for infrastructure and de-bottlenecking in material recovery ecosystems.

Marine plastic pollution, microplastics, and waste in general, constitute a major threat to marine life, human health,food safety and quality and tourism, as well as contributing to climate change. In 2016 11 million metric tonnes ended up in the ocean. While an increasing amount of plastic is produced worldwide, only 9 % gets recycled. By 2040, 29 million metric tonnes will leak into the ocean.

The source of the problem is mismanagement of waste on land. This is one of the largest contributors of plastics found in the sea. An estimated 80% of ocean plastics come from land-based sources. Plastics and other types of waste that are not responsible collected and treated reach the oceans through rivers and un- controlled dumpsites on the seaside.

Indonesia is one of the major sources of plastics to the ocean. According to the report Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean by Jambeck et al, Indonesia is one in five countries from which more than half of the ocean plasticsoriginate. Therefore, quick actions can have a high impact. Addressing the challenge of marine plastic waste is a political priority in Indonesia.

CLOCC is working together with local governments towards the best solutions for waste management.

CLOCC’s work is currently focused on Banyuwangi, which is located in East Java and serves as a port between Java and Bali. According to data provided by the Banyuwangi regency 420,451 tons of waste are generated annually. Of this, 273,170 tons per year are unmanaged.

Our ambition is to expand our work to Bali, which has nine regencies and a total population of approximately 4,3 million people. A study conducted by SYSTEMIQ and the University of Leeds for the Bali Partnership found that 52 - 58% of the waste in Bali is unmanaged. Bali is highly touristic, and the study also found that tourists generate three times more plastic waste than the inhabitants.

In Banyuwangi, CLOCC has engaged a cohort of selected representatives from local government agencies involved in waste management. As part of the programme, they have participated in trainings in relevant topics on waste management and field visits to local waste banks, processing sites and waste management facilities, and landfills. They have also taken part in CLOCC’s data collection for household and business waste on regency and desa level, to get a solid baseline for the development of waste management plans. CLOCC has also facilitated stakeholder meetings with local communities to cooperate with and integrate village leaders into the development of waste management plans. CLOCC is continuing to work with local stakeholders towards developing strong, local waste management plans.