Recycling firm battles Jakarta's plastic waste emergency
As Indonesia's capital Jakarta grapples with overflowing plastic waste and pollution pours into the sea, one burgeoning business is trying to turn rubbish into revenue.
Tridi Oasis Group, which employs 120 people, has recycled more than 250 million bottles since it was founded six years ago.
"I don't see discarded plastic as trash. For me, it is a valuable material in the wrong place," 35-year-old founder Dian Kurniawati said.
Indonesia has pledged to reduce plastic waste by 30 percent over the next three years -- a mammoth task in the Southeast Asian nation of nearly 270 million people where plastic recycling is rare.
The country generates approximately 7.8 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, with more than half mismanaged or disposed of improperly, according to the World Bank.
The company exports recycled plastic to European countries and also distributes it locally to be processed and used as packaging or textiles.
Kurniawati resigned from her consultant job to start the firm, tackling head-on the massive challenges faced by the world's fourth most populous country in dealing with the plastic crisis.
As one of the initiators of the "Beach Clean Up Jakarta" movement, she saw how Jakarta is littered with plastic waste and was frustrated that little was being done to change the situation.
