Plastic-free island, is that possible?

Written by Widya, Karin, and Claudia

In December, Widya got a chance to visit two ESSET students working on their internship regarding plastic pollution in Indonesia. This internship was made possible by collaborating with a non-profit organisation Clear Rivers and the University of Pattimura. The students, Karin and Claudia, spent approximately 4 months on the lovely island of Ambon, in the eastern part of Indonesia. Their main goals were to identify suitable locations to put litter traps to prevent plastic waste from entering the ocean, increase public awareness regarding plastic pollution, and establish waste prevention strategies.

Ambon island, located on one of the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, is facing a serious plastic pollution problem. High consumption of plastics, in combination with a poor waste management system, is leading to heavily polluted land and rivers. During heavy rainfall, all waste from land will flush into the rivers and ends up in Ambon’s bay. Therefore, in collaboration with Clear Rivers, Karin had to determine the location of litter traps to prevent plastic waste from entering the ocean. In addition, as environmental education and public awareness are both crucial to increase human capacity and capability to deal with environmental challenges, Claudia had to develop a baseline of an educational program and an awareness campaign to prevent plastic pollution in Ambon.

During their internship, Karin and Claudia did fieldwork on the rivers, visited a landfill, hosted several clean-up activities, and attended multiple focus group discussions (FGDs). The cultural difference and the language barrier did not stop them from achieving their goals, and Widya thinks this is amazing! Widya was not able to experience everything, but she was able to survey one of the litter trap locations together with Karin.

We had a lovely dinner together on Widya’s last day in Ambon. We hope that this project will eventually result in a plastic-free island. Fingers crossed!

If you want to know more about this project, feel free to contact Widya, Karin, or Claudia 🙂