Project STOP celebrates yet another major milestone this year: the handover of its third city partnership, in the Jembrana Regency, Bali, demonstrating that public-private partnerships can work to permanently reduce waste and plastics leakage into the environment and support circularity of materials. Going forward, the program will be managed by local government and the community.
To date, Project STOP Jembrana has offered formal waste collection services to more than 124,800 people and is both sorting waste for recycling and composting waste in its material processing facility based at Peh landfill, near Negara municipality. The material recovery facility (MRF) has a capacity of processing 50 metric tons of post-consumer organics- and inorganics waste per day, created 86 permanent jobs in the community, and has to date collected over 12,959 metric tons of waste, including 1,528 metric tons of plastic.
”As one of the earliest projects funded by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, we are pleased to reach the important milestone of handing over a fully functional and economically viable waste management system to the Regency of Jembrana.” said Nicholas Kolesch, Vice President of Projects at the Alliance. “Our team has worked hand-in-hand with Project STOP under challenging conditions since the project was launched in late 2019. The project has provided valuable learnings that continue to be applied across our portfolio, not least in the Bersih Indonesia Eliminasi Sampah Plastik program that is getting underway in Java.”
Project STOP has worked in close partnership with the Regency government and related local agencies, with the facility formally handed over to them during a meeting in June 2023. The handover of the program to the local government signifies the transition of responsibilities and the enduring impact of Project STOP in Jembrana. It highlights the local government’s commitment to sustaining the progress made and further developing the waste management infrastructure to ensure a cleaner, healthier environment for the community.
Project STOP Jembrana celebrates a number of important firsts for Project STOP, including:
- First co-located sorting facility, composting operation, and landfill, allowing for efficient handling of incoming materials.
- First transfer station to efficiently move material from more distant villages.
- First competition to involve and engage villages to receive service.
The Jembrana government has embraced the system, taken full ownership of it, and already has plans for service expansion. Project STOP has been foundational in terms of future circular waste management expansion in the region and nationwide and other systems have already taken on its learnings.
“Collaboration is one of the important keys in implementing circular waste services and making them accessible to the community. Since 2019, our joint work with Project STOP in Jembrana has resulted in a number of achievements - from policies, a waste management institution, systems, and infrastructures to collect and process waste, and providing new job opportunities in the waste sector. The system is now sustainably implemented by the government and the community. With utmost optimism we trust that it will serve the people in Jembrana and keep our environment healthy and clean.” says I Nengah Tamba, Regent of Jembrana.
Thomas Gangl, Borealis CEO, says: "With the approach developed jointly with our partners, the Alliance To End Plastic Waste, Systemiq, and the Jembrana Regency, we were able to demonstrate how an effective and cost-efficient waste management system works – from concept development towards implementation. It is great to see that we have inspired the Alliance To End Plastic Waste to further roll-out waste management systems in Indonesia based on learnings made through Project STOP, which provided the blueprint. Ultimately, collaboration is key to scaling waste management systems further for the benefit of communities and the environment. There is no time to waste.”
Project STOP is a bold initiative that is taking a radical approach to stop environmental leakage by creating comprehensive, economically sustainable waste management systems in areas of high plastic leakage into the ocean and low waste collection coverage. Co-founded by Borealis and Systemiq in 2017, the project operates under formal agreements with the Government of Indonesia and local government authorities. At the national level, Project STOP supports ministries with setting goals and creating enabling environments for success. At the regional level, a team of mainly Indonesian experts in waste management, plastic recycling, organics management, behavour change, and program governance works hand in hand with local government authorities to design and then implement a low-cost waste management system in which all households and institutions benefit from collection, and plastics are kept out of the environment.
“Transforming waste management systems requires long-term support and partnerships. We are grateful to all supporters, funders, and stakeholders who have been instrumental in realizing this milestone, notably including national, provincial, regional, and local government partners in Indonesia. Their unwavering support and shared vision have been instrumental in driving lasting change in circular economy practices and improving the health and well-being of local communities.” said Mike Webster, Program Director of Project STOP at Systemiq.