System-wide assessment of Indonesia's plastic value chain: Mapping flows and stakeholders dynamics

Abstract

Indonesia faces a severe plastic pollution crisis driven by extensive plastic usage and inadequate waste management. To effectively address this issue and promote sustainable circularity, it is crucial to understand the dynamics of plastic production, use, and end-of-life management, as well as the interactions among stakeholders throughout the plastics lifecycle. Without such a comprehensive understanding, mitigation efforts risk being ineffective or misdirected. Existing research tends to be fragmented, focused on specific regions or segments, and therefore fails to provide a comprehensive, system-wide analysis. This limits the development of effective and actionable interventions. To address this gap, this study employs a systems-based approach called CVORR (Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery), which provides a structured framework for analysing complex resource rrecovery systems. Specifically, the study focuses on the initial pivotal steps of the CVORR approach: 1) mapping and analysing plastic mass and monetary flows, and 2) identifying key stakeholders directly involved in these movements in the Indonesian plastics value chain. This marks the first-ever systemic analysis of Indonesia's plastic value chain, offering novel insights into stakeholder power dynamics and their influence on plastic flows. The study's findings attribute Indonesia's plastic crisis to power imbalances, social norms, financial constraints, and varying value perceptions. Charting the power dynamics among formal and informal stakeholders is key to fostering synergies and collaboration across all sectors of the plastics value chain, driving transformative changes in both plastics production and waste management. Co-creating, testing, and piloting multidimensional interventions – spanning technical, infrastructural, policy, economic, and communication strategies – are essential to generate scalable solutions. Future research should focus on developing intervention strategies and further exploring stakeholder dynamics, particularly the engagement of secondary (external) stakeholders indirectly involved in plastic flows.