Sustainability in the Global South

Analysing plastic waste flow across different urban landscapes: a case study from Bandung, Indonesia.

With an ever-increasing population and growing consumption, plastic waste management has become one of the most challenging problems in Indonesia. Because of its inadequate and insufficient infrastructure for disposing and managing waste, the majority of plastic waste generated in the archipelago is burned or uncollected. As a consequence of the local government’s inability to provide municipal waste services to a growing population, local actors have been informally engaging in waste management, creating a long and fragmented supply chain of formal and informal interactions. Due to the system’s fragmentation, there is little reliable data on plastic waste flow at the local level.

In Indonesia, rapid urbanisation resulted in urban sprawl and fragmented urban planning (e.g., informal settlements and slums), causing unequal access to waste disposal services within cities. This is relevant as socioeconomic factors and urban planning features have an impact on plastic consumption and disposal methods. Recycling and collection rates as well as disposal choices might thus differ considerably according to the socio-spatial characteristics of the city.

Taking Bandung (Indonesia) as a case study, this project aims to quantify plastic waste flow in different neighbourhoods of the city, addressing the hypothesis that specific socio-spatial characteristics can be associated with a specific flow of plastic. The main goal is to develop a methodological approach to systematically assess plastic waste in a low-data environment (e.g., cities in developing countries).

The project supports the transition towards more sustainable waste management in cities in the Global South by creating new knowledge that is academically and socially relevant. It has the following research questions:

• How does plastic waste flow across different urban neighbourhoods?
• How do neighbourhood socio-spatial characteristics influence the flow of plastic waste?
• How can a methodological framework be developed to accurately measure and assess plastic waste flow from a systemic perspective?

The analysis is subdivided into three main steps. The first consists of a plastic Material Flow Analysis (MFA) in different neighbourhoods of Bandung. The analysis includes the identification of stakeholders involved in the waste management system and the quantification of plastic flow and stock. As data can be missing or unreliable, this will be complemented by a geo-survey with households and stakeholders. The second step comprises a socio-spatial analysis which aims to explore the possible relations between socio-spatial characteristics and plastic flow. The third step concerns the development of a methodological approach that can be generalized to other cities in developing countries. This part aims to provide a guiding framework for researchers and policymakers to assess plastic waste flow from a systemic perspective and transform the knowledge gained in steps 1 and 2 into action.

I am contributing to this research with my doctoral project – Analysing plastic waste flow across different urban landscapes: a case study from Bandung, Indonesia – under the supervision of Prof. Claudia Binder.