by Nadia Jessica Jonatan
Is post-consumer waste solely the responsibility of consumers? Can companies put more effort to be sustainable with their post-consumer waste? This article shows how several companies address their post-consumer waste problems and how companies can contribute more for sustainability, starting from their post-consumer waste.
One thing before we start: what is post-consumer waste? According to Taha (2016) post-consumer waste is material(s) discarded after someone uses it. Post-consumer waste has served its intended purpose, passed through the hands of a final consumer, and has been discarded for disposal or recovery. Quite commonly, it is simply the garbage that individuals routinely discard, either in the trash can or a dump, or by littering, incinerating, or pouring down the drain. For example, drinking soft drinks will result in plastic bottles and caps as post-consumer waste.
Do you shower everyday? How often do you do your laundry? Post-consumer waste from our hygiene procedures include shampoo bottles, soap packaging, dirty diapers, dish soap sachets, tampons, conditioner pumps, the list goes on. Here’s how companies are doing about it:
1. The Body Shop® Indonesia
Bring Back Our Bottles™ movement was initiated by The Body Shop® Indonesia in 2008. By returning empty bottles, consumers can enjoy points exchangeable to shopping vouchers through Love Your Body™ program. Collaborating with Waste4Change, these empty bottles will be recycled to various products. For over 12 years, The Body Shop® Indonesia has kept this program running and shown their commitment towards sustainability. It is also important to note that The Body Shop® Indonesia launched their first zero packaging product this month called Animal Bath Bombs (also an effort to reduce post-consumer waste) great job, The Body Shop Indonesia!
2. Softex Indonesia®
In 2019, Softex Indonesia launched the Sustainability Project of Recycling Baby Diaper Waste in Tangerang. Collaborating with Sarana Olah Sampah, several daycares, orphanages and pre-schools, this project recycles baby diaper waste to plant media, compost and wool. This is a great start since baby diapers constitute a great deal of household waste during infancy.
Let’s hope that this project will run not only in Tangerang but all over Indonesia. I’m sure we can agree that we’d love to see more efforts for female menstrual post-consumer waste (such as used pads), but we must be aware that it remains a challenge for sanitary & health reasons. Still, kudos to Softex Indonesia for the initiative!
3. Unilever® Indonesia
Earlier this year, Unilever® Indonesia launched their first refill station within the Saruga Package-free store in Bintaro. The hygiene-related brands available for refill are Rinso, Molto, Sunlight, Superpell, Lifebuoy, Clear, Dove, Sunsilk, TRESemmé, and Love Beauty and Planet. Addressing their post-consumer waste, Unilever® Indonesia aims to reduce packaging waste and support a circular economy through their refill station. This is a great initiative from the FMCG industry since we use their products in everyday life, hence cutting down a lot of plastic packaging. It would be great to have more refill stations built across Indonesia, not only from Unilever® but also from other FMCG companies as well. Great move!
(Photo by The Jakarta Post)
Those are a few examples of post-consumer waste management in the hygiene sector. Up next are Food and Beverages! You name it: plastic bottles and straws, aluminum cans, glass jars, sachets, and glass bottles. Salute to these companies for their efforts!
1. Nestle® Malaysia
Since December 2019, Nestle® Malaysia have switched plastic straw to paper straw for MILO® products in hopes to reduce post-consumer waste and be more sustainable. Their paper straw is also responsibly sourced, proven certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
(Photo by Mini Me Insights)
Although this shift is good, it is no secret that Nestle® has not implemented paper straws to all their products globally yet. Until then, we sincerely hope to see a broader implementation to all Nestle® brands all over the world. Thumbs up for their efforts!
2. Tetra Pak® Indonesia
Familiar with these packaging? (Photo by Keke Naima)
These are produced by Tetra Pak® for many beverage companies in Indonesia. To combat their post-consumer waste, Tetra Pak® Indonesia collaborates with Balai Besar Pulp dan Kertas (BBPK) to collect, sort, and recycle Used Beverages Carton (UBC). Until today, Tetra Pak® Indonesia has 6 UBC collecting stations in Bali, Central Java, East Java, Jogjakarta, West Java, and Jabodetabek. The recycling process separates paper and polymer and aluminium to create new products such as paper products and furniture. It is amazing that the whole post-consumer waste can be recycled to value-added products. The challenge now would be collecting as much UBC as produced. Great strategy, Tetra Pak® Indonesia!
3. Coca-Cola® Indonesia
(Photo by Nursaidr) ADES in collaboration with Gojek and supported by Waste4Change initiated the #NiatMurni program since May 2019 where consumers can send at least 50 plastic bottles to the nearest waste bank. As a reward, consumers are given 3000 points exchangeable with electricity tokens, credit, or GoPay balance. These plastic bottles will be recycled into various products. This is a great move to prevent plastic littering in the ocean and increase lifespan of plastic. However, not only for plastic waste, we are also looking forward to Coca-Cola’s commitment to address their aluminum cans waste. It would be great to switch to recycled cans because metals can be recycled repeatedly without altering their properties (Bahraini, 2020)
4. Unilever® Indonesia
(Photo by Unilever) Still from the same example of Refill Station, Bango® is also available at Saruga Pack Free Store in Bintaro. It would be great for other FMCGs to follow this method. Other household necessities such as cooking oil, seasonings, etc. are bought frequently, so their availability at bulk stores will greatly reduce post-consumer waste.
Last but not least, the Electronic sector. This includes metal material and machinery. How do you recycle your old phones? Do we dispose of our electronics properly?
1. ASUS®
ASUS® provides Product Recycling Services for all ASUS® and non-ASUS IT products as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. This service is available in Europe, North America, India, Taiwan, China, Australia, and events. ASUS® estimated electronic products recycling rate to reach 20% on 2025 (Photo by ASUS)
This is a great approach to solve post-consumer waste because electronics possess toxic components and must be disposed of properly. The products will be disassembled to its materials and recycled separately according to each location. Great initiative!
2. NOKIA® Indonesia
(Photo by Autobild) NOKIA® Indonesia provides electronic phone/accessories recycling services in collaboration with TES-AMM, a singapore-based recycling company. By handing our NOKIA® phone/accessories in the 91 available Nokia care centers across Indonesia, Nokia will send them to Singapore to be recycled. However, NOKIA® only accepts their brands. Nice!
3. Apple®
(Photo by 9to5mac) Apple® has 2 programs to address post-consumer waste, first one being Apple Trade In. In Apple trade in, consumers can hand their unused phones and trade them for gift cards/credit for the next purchase. Second program is Apple Recycling, where consumers can hand over their unused Apple® products to be “responsibly recycled” either disassembled or reused. Programs differ per country, but most countries have recycling services.
We have seen companies’ efforts to manage post-consumer waste including plastic, metal, organic waste and electronic waste. However, in overall sectors, there are still many neglected post-consumer waste such as glass, wood, styrofoam, medical waste, hazardous & toxic waste, rubber, paper etc. If companies don’t manage post-consumer waste properly, they end up in landfills or are either recycled by recycling companies or consumers.
I believe that combating post-consumer waste is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders, including companies who directly profit from the sales. There are several recycling companies in Indonesia that contribute to post-consumer waste management, and it would be great for companies to work together with them. I hope companies take more initiative to solve post-consumer waste and work towards a more sustainable approach. Let’s salute all companies that continuously progress towards sustainability and support all efforts no matter how small.
References:
Apple. 2020. Apple Trade In. Available at: https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in. Accessed September 27th. 2020
Apple. 2020. Apple Recycling. Available at: https://www.apple.com/id/recycling/. Accessed September 27th, 2020.
ASUS. 2020. ASUS Corporate Social Responsibility. Available at: https://csr.asus.com/english/article.aspx?id=112. Accessed September 27th, 2020
Bahraini, A. 2018. The Complete Recyclables Guide. Waste4Change. Available at: https://waste4change.com/w4c-recyclables/. Accessed September 27th, 2020
Hens, H. 2019. Ades Gandeng Gojek Kembangkan Layanan Jemput Botol Plastik Bekas, Gratis? Available at: https://www.liputan6.com/lifestyle/read/4099945/ades-gandeng-gojek-kembangkan-layanan-jemput-botol-plastik-bekas-gratis. Accessed September 27th, 2020.
Kurniasih, A. 2020. Perangi Sampah Plastik, Unilever Hadirkan Refill Station Pertamanya di Bulk Store. Available at: https://www.urbanasia.com/perangi-sampah-plastik-unilever-hadirkan-refill-station-pertamanya-di-bulk-store-U9681. Accessed September 27th, 2020.
MILO. 2020. My Paper Straw. Available at: https://www.milo.com.my/paper-straw. Accessed September 27th, 2020
Viva. 2009. 80% komponen nokia bisa didaur ulang. Available at https://www.viva.co.id/digital/piranti/79463-80-komponen-nokia-bisa-didaur-ulang. Accessed September 27th, 2020.
Softex Indonesia. 2019. Sustainability Project of Recycling Used Baby Diapers Into Fertilizers and Planting Media in Tangerang. Available at: https://www.softexindonesia.com/sustainability/sustainability-project-of-recycling-used-baby-diapers-into-fertilizers-and-planting-media-in-tangera. Accessed September 27th, 2020.
Taha, W. M. 2016. Pre & Post Consumer Waste Definition. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312498203_Pre_Post_Consumer_Waste_Definition. Accessed September 27th, 2020.
Tetra Pak. 2020. Daur Ulang Kemasan. Available at: https://www.tetrapak.com/id/sustainability/daur-ulang-kemasan. Accessed September 27th, 2020
The Body Shop Indonesia. 2020. Bring Back Our Bottles. Available at: https://www.thebodyshop.co.id/bbob. Accessed September 27th, 2020