MRWP Indonesia: Save Our Small Islands

Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) is an ecologically sensitive chain of islands off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia. The growing number of tourists and the islands’ position as a catchment area for marine currents carrying plastic pollution from the mainland is significantly impacting the surrounding marine environment. During the rainy season up to 40,000 tons of garbage end up in the waters around the islands, much of it plastic waste.

Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) is an ecologically sensitive chain of islands off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia. The growing number of tourists and the islands’ position as a catchment area for marine currents carrying plastic pollution from the mainland is significantly impacting the surrounding marine environment. During the rainy season up to 40,000 tons of garbage end up in the waters around the islands, much of it plastic waste.

The project Save our Small Islands works to increase plastics recycling and improve livelihoods by expanding the number of local participants engaged in the community-based solid waste management (SWM) system; improving the solid waste collection services provided by the government and the private sector ; and linking informal waste collectors with the local recycling system. The initiative is implemented by Divers Clean Action, a youth-led organization engaged with over 1,000 young volunteers