COMPANY TALKS

Looking at the Disposable Gallon Waste Management System:

Circular Economy OR Greenwashing Strategy ?

By Hafidz Alif Felyansyah (Chemical Engineering 21)

ne of the bottled drinking water brands called "Le Minerale," produced by PT Tirta Fresindo Jaya, has garnered attention from the public and environmental activists. How could it not be, the plastic gallons used to package the mineral water are produced for single use only. This is considered a setback in global efforts to reduce waste, especially plastic waste. Moreover, this is also seen as nothing more than a form of greenwashing done to attract consumer interest. However, Le Minerale explained that their advocacy for disposable gallon products is aimed at establishing a circular economy through sustainable activities such as recycling and integrated waste collection.

Principles of Le Minerale in Using Disposable Gallons

Le Minerale's principle of producing disposable gallons as packaging for its products began during the pandemic, when people became more concerned about their health conditions. By using disposable gallons, Le Minerale guarantees that the gallons that consumers receive are always new so that they are more guaranteed to be clean because they do not need to be rewashed, free from BPA content, and the quality of the drinking water is guaranteed because they use an airtight screw cap. This principle is considered by Le Minerale to be in line with the National Circular Economy Movement which seeks to support the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. 75 of 2019 and is committed to creating products that are healthy, safe and play a role in protecting the environment.

Le Minerale Circular Economy Movement

In its efforts to support the National Circular Economy Movement in Indonesia, Le Minerale seeks to build coordination with several stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Asosiasi Daur Ulang Plastik Indonesia (ADUPI), Ikatan Pemulung Indonesia (IPI), etc. In supporting the circular economy, the vision and goals of Le Minerale are to collect post-consumption plastic waste, synergize multi-stakeholders, and educate waste sorting. Le Minerale together with ADUPI and IPI collaborated with plastic recycling industry players to collect postconsumer PET plastic waste with a total collection area of 158 points in the Jabotabek area, in collaboration with traditional collectors, main waste banks, and unit waste banks.

In its first year, this movement was quite effective, especially in the disposable gallons recycling process made by Le Minerale. According to research by Sustainable Waste Indonesia (SWI) during March-August 2021 the recycling rate for gallons of PET is 93%, PP glass is 81%, and PET bottles is 74%. In fact, it is known that this movement was able to increase the collection rate by 98% compared to before the program and was able to collect up to 6,300 tons of plastic waste in one year.

Le Minerale doing Greenwashing Strategy?

On the other hand, Le Minerale's efforts to promote the use of disposable gallons are considered as greenwashing. Greenwashing is a marketing and communication strategy employed by a company to portray an environmentally friendly image in terms of products, values, and corporate goals without truly taking actions that benefit the environment.

The reason gallons of le minerale are considered a product that does greenwashing is because to make a 1 liter plastic bottle requires 7 liters of water and 1 liter of oil. In this case, even though the material used by disposable gallons can be recycled, this does not make this product an environmentally friendly product (Setiawan, 2020).

This is because the recycling process in Indonesia itself still has a low recycle rate so it is very effective to deal with the amount of plastic waste by reducing the use of plastic. Based on Gunadi (2022), the use of greenwashing claims makes consumers confused whether the product really cares about the environment or the product is only trying to increase sales and improve the brand image in the eyes of the public.

Tahun Gerakan Ekonomi Sirkular, Le Minerale Gencarkan Pengelolaan dan Edukasi Sampah PET” <Available at: https://www.kompas.tv/ advertorial/268428/satu-tahun-gerakan-ekonomi sirkular le-minerale gencarkan-pengelolaan-dan-edukasi sampah pet> [Accessed on July, 14th 2023].

Setiawan, H. 2020. “Galon Sekali Pakai K laim Ramah Lingkungan, Greenpeace: ini Gimmick”. <Available at: https://www. jawapos.com/ nasional/27/11/2020/galon-sekali pakai-k laimramah lingkungangreenpeace ini-gimmick/> [Accessed on July, 24th 2023].