Waste Management
Program
The Banda Islands’ beauty is at risk due to improper waste management, particularly plastic pollution. Luminocean’s Waste Management Program collaborates with local communities, businesses, and authorities to promote sustainable solutions and protect the environment.
Through community clean-ups, educational workshops, and recycling initiatives, we raise awareness and foster responsibility for waste management. Partnering with local organizations, we implement long-term strategies like organizing a Recycling Ship, a Recycling Facility and Teaching the communities how to do Upcycling.
Your support through donations, volunteering, or spreading awareness helps create a cleaner, sustainable future for the Banda Islands. Together, we can preserve this paradise for generations.
Turning Plastic Waste into Opportunity in the Banda Islands
Since 2019, we have been actively collecting and receiving plastic waste from people in the Banda archipelago. This initiative is made possible through the generous support of BandaSEA (Bonn, Germany), Deutsche Stiftung Meeresschutz (Munich, Germany), and the Tirto Utomo Foundation (Jakarta, Indonesia).
With our dedicated plastic collection boat, we visit islands to remove plastic waste from beaches and the sea, but more importantly, we work with local communities to teach proper waste separation. By sorting plastic at the source, households can exchange it for cash through our plastic bank system, ensuring that waste is managed responsibly rather than ending up in the ocean.
To encourage participation, households receive credit in their plastic bank books, which they can cash out at any time. Our team visits every 2 to 4 weeks, bringing a scale to weigh the collected plastic and recording it in each participant’s bank book. The collected plastic is then processed at our recycling facility and shipped to Surabaya, where it is transformed into plastic pellets for reuse.
Some plastic types, such as PP and PE, are processed locally in our small-scale pyrolysis plant, an Indonesian-made system that converts 10 kg of plastic into approximately 8.5 liters of fuel (diesel, gasoline, and kerosene). The process is energy-efficient, as the kerosene produced is used to power the plant itself.
This initiative represents a major step forward in our mission to reduce plastic pollution and protect the marine environment, and we are excited about the impact we are making together.
Recycling Facility: Collection, Sorting, and Processing
Since 2019, our recycling facility on Banda Naira has been actively managing plastic waste. The collected plastic is sorted and either shipped to Surabaya for recycling into plastic pellets or processed locally using our pyrolysis machine.
This Indonesian-made system converts 10 kg of plastic per run into approximately 8.5 liters of fuel (diesel, gasoline, and kerosene). The process is energy-efficient, as the kerosene produced is used to heat the machine itself.
The resulting fuel powers our waste collection vehicle and plastic shredder, ensuring a sustainable approach to waste management.
Upcycling: Empowering Women through Income
In partnership with our German collaborator, BandaSEA e.V., we are working towards a rubbish-free ocean and island. One of our initiatives involves recycling plastic packaging into beautiful wallets, a process carried out by women from various villages. This project has become a self-sustaining income-generating concept.
Download the information sheet to learn about the journey, from its inception to where we are today.
