"Tridi Oasis" Efforts to Recycle Plastic Waste for Economic Value

Citing data from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia was the second largest contributor to plastic waste worldwide in 2019 with 3,21 million metric tons per year. China occupies the first position with 8,81 million metric tons per year. Already the largest producer, Indonesia is also unable to process waste. According to the Plastics Management Index, Indonesia is generally still behind Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

Various negative assumptions are definitely prominent when looking at the conditions above. Not surprisingly, the government has imposed a ban on the use of single-use plastics in a number of areas to reduce the rate of plastic waste. However, there is a positive side that can be raised from the problems above, namely lifting waste so that it has economic value that can empower the community. With this view, Dian Kurniawati (CEO) and Dinda Utami Ishah (COO) founded Tridi Oasis in 2016.

Personally, Dian has an interest in managing plastic waste, even though she herself has no background in the circular world. Previously, Dian worked as a consultant in a number of multinational companies.

"I see waste as a raw material, a problem that becomes an opportunity where there is an opportunity from an economic perspective that can create a new economy that has social and environmental impacts," said Dian during a visit to the Tridi Oasis factory in Tangerang, Tuesday (25/10).

PT Tridi Oasis Group focuses on PET recycling (polyethylene terephthalate), as plastic bottles are converted into a variety of high-quality recycled PET flakes. These flakes are needed for sustainable packaging and textiles required by the food packaging and textile industries. The entire recycling process is carried out at the Tridi Oasis factory located in Tangerang.

He chose PET because of its promising market potential. Quoting from various sources he summarized, globally, input materials are estimated to increase by 0,7 million tons per year. Then, the global recycled plastics market value is projected to reach $50,356 million by 2022, with a CAGR of 6,4% from 2017 to 2022. Lastly, packaging is the fastest growing segment of the recycled plastics market, based on end-use industry, followed by industrial automotive, electrical and electronics.

To date, Tridi Oasis has collected, sorted and recycled more than 5 thousand tons of bottle waste. On average, the company recycles 500-700 tons of bottle waste per month. As much as 90% of this recycling is exported abroad, for example Europe, Vietnam and the United States. It is estimated that the company uses 20 container trucks of various sizes per month, with weights starting from 20 tons per truck for export of recycled products.

In fact, now to meet international standards, the company has obtained Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) certification, which was developed by Zero Plastic Oceans based in France. This standardization enables Tridi to distribute certified polyethylene terephthalate (PET) PET flakes through its global trading network.

It doesn't stop there, companies are starting to think about recycling other plastic waste beyond bottles. After further research, sachet packaging waste (MLP/multi layered plastics) has an equally big issue because it is difficult to recycle so collection rates are low. Plus, most of the 90% of this type of waste ends up in the ocean, globally only 9% of plastic is recycled, and raw material sources are plentiful and low cost.

In terms of prospects, there are few players who recycle this type of waste because most recycling focuses on hard plastics, especially PET and HDPE (High-density polyethylene).

The recycling result of this sachet waste is pallets. A pallet is a base used in the process of shipping various goods, which functions as a protector and as a tool to facilitate the process of lifting and arranging while in warehouses and containers. The prospect of using pallets is also large because it is closely correlated with the logistics industry which continues to grow.

It is estimated that the pallet market share will reach $110.565,7 million in 2027, from $79.008,6 million in 2019, growing at a CAGR of 5,1% from 2020 to 2027. To take this sector seriously, the company formed a joint venture with ALBA Group, a specialist company recycling, named PT Tridi Plastics Recycling (ALBA Tridi).

“Just this August the formation of the legal entity was completed. We will use factory facilities in Kendal, Central Java to recycle this sachet waste. ALBA will help with its cutting-edge technology."

It was stated that ALBA Tridi had managed more than 400 tonnes of sachet waste from January to September 2022, an increase of 300% compared to the 130 tonnes produced during the previous year. His party is supported by a collection initiative built with 50 partners, namely stalls, waste banks, collectors and housing residents.

Creating sustainable economic value

Dian explained, in order to empower a sustainable economy, the company has established a bottle waste collection process that involves the surrounding environment, such as collectors and local communities. Especially for local communities, the company created the educational program "Beberes", a collaboration with CleanHub, a similar company from Germany.

This program was carried out to assist the waste management process and enable local communities to produce high-value recyclable waste. Currently, the Beberes program has been participated by more than 50 partners including stalls, waste banks, collectors and residents of local housing complexes.

One of them is a resident in the Cibodasari area, Tangerang. Miftah, Chair of RT 05 Perumnas I Cibodasari, said he was enthusiastic about the program because he was concerned about the accumulation of rubbish and the flooding that would continue to occur when the rainy season arrived.

Since the beginning of this year he took the initiative to start collecting waste bottles and sachets that were placed in the RT area. Together with 10 other selected residents, they routinely collect rubbish which is placed in a 50 liter plastic barrel. Each resident is given a bin at home, usually the waste weighs 3-5 kg.

"Once a week the trash is picked up by Tridi. There is a recording every week and the weight is measured. Within a month, after four trash collections, residents will receive basic necessities from Tridi. Because of that, residents are enthusiastic."

The process of collecting waste from the community uses a simple application with a feature for routinely recording the waste that Tridi transports per week. Each resident is equipped with a code Barcode separately that needs to bescan by Tridi officers.

As for bottle waste, Miftah personally collects it with the help of residents and then sells it to collectors in Legok. In two months, he can collect 50-70 kg of waste bottles which are priced per kilo starting from IDR 6 thousand, depending on the type of bottle.

"I saved the proceeds from this sale for the RT treasury because I didn't want to burden the residents with having to keep depositing money. "Before selling it to collectors, I also empower youth organizations here to help clean up."

Dian admitted that her party was working with collectors around Tangerang as suppliers. Meanwhile, the Tridi Oasis team now numbers 140 people.

Supported by a grant from the DBS Foundation

In supporting all Tridi Oasis plans, the company participates in a grant program organized by DBS Group through DBS Foundation last year. The DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant was given to Tridi to support the implementation of a circular economy.

In total, the DBS Foundation distributed grant funds amounting to SG$3 million for business actors whose businesses have a social and environmental impact. Of the 19 grant recipients in Asia, two of them are from Indonesia, namely Tridi Oasis and Waste4Change. Although the nominal value received by grant recipients cannot be detailed, the maximum nominal amount is SG$250 thousand (around 2,7 billion Rupiah).

Dian said the grant funds were used to continue feasibility studies, market research, and complete research and development related to the recycling process for multi-layer plastic packaging (MLP) or sachet packaging waste, a type of plastic that is least recycled but most commonly ends up in environment.

Different from the process of distributing grant funds to other companies, DBS Group regularly monitors every development which is divided into several milestone. This means that DBS wants the companies it supports to continue to grow and develop.

“We want to grow these entrepreneurial businesses so that they develop and create more social and environmental impact. For this reason, the proposal must provide grant money for what and how milestoneeach, and how long it takes to achieve each milestone"explained Head of Group Strategic Marketing & Communications Bank DBS Indonesia Mona Monika.

He continued, “Support for social entrepreneurs in Indonesia is in line with the pillars sustainability Our third, namely Impact Beyond Banking or our commitment to creating a positive impact. In the future, we hope to work with more social entrepreneurs who have social missions for the environment, education and community empowerment.

This is the second grant received by Tridi Oasis. Previously, the company received funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) amounting to $50 thousand in August 2020.

In that year, the company too pocketing debt loans (debt financing) from Circulate Capital, a Singapore-based investment management company. The amount Tridi received was not stated. Apart from Tridi Oasis, there is one company from India that received a loan totaling $6 million.