A 12-year-old Indonesian activist has called on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to halt the export of waste paper and plastic from her country to her home province.
Aeshninna (Nina) Azzahra from Gresik, East Java, made this request in an open letter to the Prime Minister, which was hand-delivered to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last evening.
The letter notes Ms Azzahra’s dismay on the ecological and health impacts of foreign waste in Indonesia and details the direct impact of the export trade on villages in her region.
She said she got here across plastic scraps that had labels coming from Canada, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, in addition to other developed countries.
“Stop exporting a mix of waste paper and plastic scraps to East Java and Indonesia. Please take your garbage out of Indonesia.”
Many wealthy countries export each non-recyclable and recyclable waste to poorer countries, that are tasked with the customarily dangerous work of recycling or destroying it.
China was previously the world’s trade leader, but since Beijing introduced a waste import ban in July 2017, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of waste from Australia and other developed countries have ended up in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
In 2018, Australia exported 52,000 tonnes of waste to the Indonesian province of East Java alone, a rise of 250% in comparison with 2014.
Mrs. Azzahra said ABCthat in her trips to landfills in East Java, after garbage with American labels, she found waste with Australian labels most frequently.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Gary Quinlan and German Ambassador to Indonesia Peter Schoof met with Ms Azzahra in response to her requests on Tuesday (January 21) and Wednesday (January 22), as DW AND Java Mail submitted to debate the problem of imported waste in Indonesia.
The Prime Minister’s office told the ABC in a press release that the Australian government will introduce a ban on the export of plastic, glass and paper waste from July.
“Like Nina, our government considers tackling waste a key priority because it is an important issue for our environment at home and throughout the region in which we live,” the statement said.
The spokesman also said the federal government would work with industries to phase out single-use plastic packaging and harmful microbeads.
“We support Indonesia’s plan to reduce marine litter by 20 percent and waste by 30 percent, and we are working with them to share our knowledge and what both countries have learned.”
Ms Azzahra’s message to Mr Morrision follows similar letters to world leaders resembling German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump.
