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World / Asia

Plastic art installations as Indonesia seeks to convert waste into energy

Published: 19 Mar 2025 - 09:13 pm | Last Updated: 19 Mar 2025 - 09:19 pm
People install plastic garbage to an art installation in Gresik Regency, East Java, Indonesia, on March 19, 2025. (Photo by Sahlan Kurniawan/Xinhua)

People install plastic garbage to an art installation in Gresik Regency, East Java, Indonesia, on March 19, 2025. (Photo by Sahlan Kurniawan/Xinhua)

Doha, Qatar: Art installations, including one resembling a faucet pouring plastic bottles into the streets of Surabaya in Indonesia, are making rounds on social media.

The installations erected by university students and environmental activists aim to raise public awareness on the Asian country's mounting plastic waste crisis.

Without intervention, global plastic pollution will continue to affect marine life, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, saying the global plastic production is projected to surge from its current 400 million metric tonnes annually to over 1 billion metric tonnes in the coming decades.

People install plastic garbage to an art installation in Gresik Regency, East Java, Indonesia, March 19, 2025. (Photo by Sahlan Kurniawan/Xinhua)

Indonesia has pledged to reduce plastic waste by 70% by 2025.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources announced that the government is drafting new regulations on waste management to transform waste into energy sources.

Reports said that the country plans to "process plastic waste through pyrolysis to produce fuel oil, bioenergy, and electricity." 

It added that the programme aims to implement waste-to-energy conversion in at least 30 major Indonesian cities by 2029.