Road to the 4th Indonesia Circular Economy Forum: Towards Smart & Sustainable Cities Through Circular Economy

The spirit of the circular economy in Indonesia has never been more apparent than now. Indonesia Circular Economy Forum (ICEF) has provided a high-level dialogue through the webinar Road to the 4th Indonesia Circular Economy Forum on October 6th 2020 with the theme “Towards Smart & Sustainable Cities Through Circular Economy” in commemoration of World Cities Day that is held every October 31st. According to the UN, city population is predicted to grow rapidly and two-thirds of the population will live in urban areas by 2050. “In line with this growing population, the consumption and human’s basic needs will also be increasing rapidly. Therefore, it is very important to design the right policies addressing the issues of sustainable cities for a better life of our people”, stated Suharso Monoarfa, the Minister for National Development Planning/Head of Bappenas of the Republic of Indonesia. In which touched on the urgency of creating smart and sustainable cities.

“The European Green Deal provides a roadmap with actions to boost the efficiency of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy. Which aims to restore biodiversity and we will cut pollution” stated H.E. Mr. Vincent Piket, European Union (EU) Ambassador to Indonesia. Thus clarifying the need for circular economy in supporting green growth in Indonesia. Furthermore, he added, “we look forward to continue our cooperation on circular economy that we stated during our Circular Economy Mission in October 2018 in Jakarta.” The progress on the circular economy between EU-Indonesia since then includes; support of RPJMN 2020-2024 National Development Plan, supporting Indonesia Circular Economy Forum (ICEF) in November 2019, partnership with UNDP in developing a National Circular Economy Strategy, and exchange visit on Extended Producer Responsibility in collaboration with Denmark, Germany and Netherlands.

Deputy Minister for Maritime and Natural Resources Affairs of the Ministry of National Development Planning, Arifin Rudiyanto stated that close partnership between the public and private sector is essential in implementing a circular economy especially through the green industry. The first session of the webinar “The Circular Economy Progress in Indonesia” highlighted the progress since the formal launch of the national circular economy strategy on February 24th 2020. Fraser Thompson, Co-Founder of AlphaBeta stated that the circular economy roadmap for Indonesia is currently being developed with inputs from key stakeholders. Multi-stakeholder collaboration efforts are needed to advance the circular economy movement further in Indonesia.

“Indonesia as an archipelago is of course especially vulnerable to the cross-border trade, and to the cross-border transition of waste. I think we also need to think about provincial and global dimension in it, stated H.E. Lars Bo Larsen, Ambassador of Denmark to Indonesia. In which circularity at the provincial level is needed especially in Indonesia as an archipelago with 34 (thirty-four) provinces.

Dodi Reza Alex Noerdin, Chairman of Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari (LTKL) believed that circular economy practices and regulations should be implemented up to the level that is closest to the general public especially in regencies. Members of LTKL have already carried out several practices that support the circular economy. The second session of the webinar “The Circular Economy in Cities” discussed the importance of circular cities, whilst identifying the challenges, opportunities and best practices. Since more than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in cities by 2050, circular cities have become a very important topic of conversation.

In the last session of the webinar “Strategic Focus Area for the Circular Economy”, efforts and chances in 5 (five) core economic sectors for circular economy strategies were highlighted, namely plastics conversion and waste management, food and beverages, electronic manufacturing and e-waste, construction and built environment as well as, textile and the fashion industry. This session’s speakers ranged from public-private, socio entrepreneur, and international speakers which indicate all walks of live involvement in this circular movement.

Founder of Greeneration Foundation, M. Bijaksana Junerosano stated that the transition to circular economy paves the way to smart and sustainable cities, where municipalities are the hub of energy flow which are: people, information, currency, water, materials, energy, food and waste. This webinar is a series with PT Napindo Media Ashatama, that will lead to the Indowater Expo on July 21st-23rd 2021. This road to the 4th ICEF webinar was supported by the EU-German co-financed project “Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter”, Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G), Siklus Refill, Waste4Change, Most Valued Business (MVB), and PT. Napindo.

For further information, please contact:

Maria Stephanie

Greeneration Foundation

Email: maria@indonesiacef.id