Ardiles Rante

In Indonesia, there is a sixteen-year-old environmental activist named Aesinina Ajira (hereafter Nina) who raises awareness of the piling up of plastic waste in every vacant lot in her village. Why is her village covered in mountains of plastic waste? Global plastic production is projected to reach 400 million tons by 2022, roughly tripling by 2060. Plastic waste generation is also rapidly increasing. However, many “eco-friendly” countries are sending plastic waste to countries with weaker environmental regulations under the guise of recyclable resources. While developed countries are increasing recycling rates, Southeast Asian countries are seeing a growing pile of imported plastic waste.

A small island in Indonesia
It was a blessed land, warm and abundant in food, but
as mining companies flocked there to mine the mineral resource of nickel, the island changed.

What happened on this island?

Microplastics are usually consumed through food and water, but more recently, they are making their way into Indonesia’s air and rain. Sui-Lee Wee, our Asia business correspondent, traveled to Jakarta, the capital, to find out why.