Danone AQUA is one of the sponsors of the Maybank Bali Marathon 2017 that was held in Gianyar on August 27. Other than supplying water for the 9000 participants of the race, they also provided tips on how to better manage plastic bottle waste.
According to Corine Tap, President Director of PT Tirta Investama, said that Danone AQUA is a company that upholds a mission to make people healthy through their products and helps conserve the environment in the process.
She said that the Maybank Bali Marathon 2017 was the perfect moment to convey that message. “We realized that healthy living does not only derives from what you eat or drink, but also from a healthy environment,” as quoted by Gatra. “That is why we provide a bin where we collect the plastic bottles and encourage participants to recycle the waste that they produce themselves.”
The waste will then be delivered to their Recycling Business Unit (RBU) to be cut up into small pieces so that they will be recycled to make new bottles. “Used plastic bottles have a high economic value if they are properly managed. Unfortunately, so far the public is not aware of it and so they just throw them away which pollutes the land and the sea.”
Danone AQUA has started the plastic waste management AQUA PEDULI initiative since 1993. Up until 2010, their recycling business units have expanded to Aceh, Bandung, Tohpati, and Lepang in Bali, Pasuruan and South Tangerang. In Bali alone, there are two RBUs initiated by Danone AQUA which was then taken over by Bali PET in 2013. The RBU manages plastic bottle waste in the surrounding Denpasar region through a network of pemulung or scavengers, TPS3R (The Temporary Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle Waste Storage), and trash banks to be turned into plastic flakes.
The RBU has built health clinic facilities where scavengers can get free medication and have access to BPJS (state-sponsored health insurance). At the moment, the capacity for the two RBU can reach up to 6000 tons per year and has employed 80 people that are comprised of scavengers and local residents.
Photo: www.lymtig.com.
