Reducing Plastic Usage as Citizen Participation Overcoming the Environmental Crisis

Abstract

Motivated by deep concern that Indonesia is currently ranked second in the world as a contributor to plastic pollution into the sea, this research aims to show how significance the effect is for citizens to reduce the use of plastic as a form of citizen participation in overcoming the environmental crisis and in order to create a healthy and sustainable environment. This research used quantitative methods combined with simple qualitative methods by conducting observations at waste disposal and in-depth interviews with experts and practitioners. The findings from this research show how significant the effect of reducing plastic carried out by citizens is to create a healthy and sustainable environment on the one hand. On the other hand, it was also found that citizen participation was still low in reducing plastic usage. So the significance of the effect of reducing the usage of plastic will only be effective if it is supported by the participation of citizens in their commitment to reduce the usage of plastic and replace it with materials that can be recycled-reused-reduced, and the government also needs to implement policies that encourage citizens to reduce their usage of plastic. In conclusion, citizens' actions to reduce the usage of plastic and effective government policies to encourage citizens to reduce their usage of plastic will be very important to overcome the environmental crisis and create a healthy and sustainable environment, and vice versa.