Leakage of plastic waste into the oceans and further dispersing into the environment via land-air pathways is posing a serious threat to marine food webs in Indonesia, causing physical and chemical contamination of every environmental compartment of the country. The project 'A Systems Analysis Approach to Reduce Plastic Waste in Indonesian Societies (PISCES) has Multiple Work Packages' funded by UK Research and Innovation - Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI- GCRF) aims to create ‘hope spots’ in Indonesia’s battle against plastic waste with the help of an international multi-disciplinary team. 

 

 

Objective:

 

The objective of the 'PISCES' project is to support the interdisciplinary research needed to understand and address the risks posed by plastic pollution in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), and to explore evidence-based solutions and system change interventions, policies and regulations that can mitigate these risks, under a circular economy framework.

 

Sponsor:  UK Research and Innovation - Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI- GCRF)

 

 

Principal Investigator (from AIT): Bangabandhu Chair Professor Joyashree Roy

 

 

 

AIT's Contributions

 

 

As one of the Principal Investigators (PI), Bangabandhu Chair Professor Joyashree Roy will contribute in three work packages of the project 'PISCES' as follows:

 

The work at AIT will contribute in;

 

(1) evaluation of socio-economic impacts of plastic waste debris on municipalities,

(2) focusing on drainage systems and socio-behavioral changes needed to reduce plastic pollution, and

(3) how to strengthen system wide change by looking into economic and environmental costs and benefits. ​

The socio-economic costs downstream due to unmanaged disposal of plastic waste are varied. The municipality managing the drainage water system bears the costs of cleaning and maintaining the quality of service provided to and required by the city dwellers. City dwellers or the end consumers may indirectly incur the cost during floods when cities become water-logged, or at other times, affecting the everyday lives of citizens and their health and wellbeing. This cost burden to non-polluters or sufferers creates a complex socio-economic consequence of either inaction or distrust leading to failure of governance or resistance to any policy intervention. Under the 'PISCES' programme, our work will aim at the 'costs' and 'benefits' for municipalities mainly focusing on;

 

• drainage systems and the impact of plastic debris on their productivity & damage to the engineered infrastructures in cities (e.g. engineered storm water and sewerage drainage systems),

• to identify the chain of actors addressing plastic impacts through alternative instruments viz. regulatory, incentive based, non-economic, etc. including links to social and cultural issues, and

• to determine the economic cost burden through valuation of total welfare loss using a production function approach.

​

​​​​