Toxic tofu? How plastic waste from the west fuels food factories in Indonesia | Global development

Plastic waste is used from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, the United States and Britain to provide tofu production in IndonesiaLearn the guardian.

Five factory owners in an industrial village in East Java, and informed an environmental organization, told Al -Wasil newspaper that imported plastic is burned daily on fuel furnaces in factories that produce tofu, which is concerned about the serious health effects.

Every day about 60 factories of tofu in Tropodo releases their boilers and their hearts and then feeding them with a set of plastic waste, wood scales and coconuts, resulting in about 60 tons of tofu distributed in the region, including the second largest Surabaya in Indonesia. Tofu is not sold outside of Indonesia.

One of the factory owners said: “We use plastic because it is cheaper.”

Open burn of waste is banned in Indonesia, but it is still a common way to get rid of waste across the archipelago.

At the Tropodo Factory, along with local plastic waste and even neglected rubber from a nearby shoe factory, huge piles of imported foreign plastic sits, including a dining package for New Zealand, and cheese files from France.

The owner of a different factory, and Wyouni, said that he burns through a two -day plastic load, which costs about $ 13, compared to $ 130 for the same amount of wood. Truck load varies in weight, but it can reach three tons.

The Guardian visited five factories and all the burnt imported foreign waste, although the quantities are varied.

Indonesians consumes 8 kg of tofu for a person annually, according to the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics (BPS), but the production of protein -rich primary element causes anxiety among environmental groups such as Ecoton, which monitors illegal dumps near Tofu paper factories.

“Non -recycled plastic scraps are sold [as fuel] To industries such as tofu production. “It is the scrap of the paper factory that can provide them with a continuous and sufficient amount of cheap fuel.”

“It is very easy to find the trash of rich countries [at the factories]Especially the United States and Australia.

How tons of neglected plastic reach Indonesia

Citiorini said a large part of foreign plastic arose from paper imports.

Indonesia imports about 3 million tons of paper and paper from cardboard annually, as government data appears. According to the World Bank data, the largest exporters in Indonesia are the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.

Several shipments reach the largest port in Indonesia in Surabaya, about an hour drive from Tropodo, then distributed over nearly ten paper recycling factories.

The Indonesian government has put a 2 % pollution in paper imports, but Ecoton says that implementation is weak and that many packages are more full, sometimes up to 30 %.

Unwanted by paper factories, plastic is sold to brokers or disposal. Ecoton estimates about 70 tons that are burned in Tropodo Tofu factories every week.

Indonesia became a hot point for the global recycling industry after China banned waste imports in 2018. The Southern Asian country imported 260,000 tons of plastic waste in 2024 alone.

The government has entered a ban on plastic waste imports this year, but local activists argue that it will not address the basic problem: paper waste contained in plastic beams.

The Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association, which represents more than 60 companies importing waste to Indonesia, has not responded to suspension requests.

Three main paper factories said Tofu factories that supplying them with imported plastic waste did not answer the guardian’s questions.

Deficient plastic in tofu

Inside the varied tofu in Tropodo, the burning plastic smell is overwhelming, but it seems that the workers are unbroken.

When asked about health risks, one of them said that they all smoke cigarettes anyway, “and none of us passed.”

Traditionally, wood feeding boilers, but high costs led to the factory owners turning into a plastic.

Factory owner, Goku, said that Tofu factories in East Java had been burned for years of plastic to produce fuel, a practice that he also spoke near other major major recycling facilities in Java.

Goku The guardian was directed to one of the illegal plastic scrap dumps where its plastic factories export their scrap and where foreign plastic was found.

Experts say that burning plastic, especially in food production, is serious health risks, including increased risk of respiratory diseases and chronic diseases.

Ecoton tested the tofu purchased from the Tropodo market and found highly plastic concentrations, in the form of fibers, ranging from 0.15 mm to 1.76 mm.

Scientists are still studying the effects of microblasts on human health, but some studies indicate that they can increase the possibility of a heart attack, stroke, or death.

Dr. Citorene said that burning microblazles molecules in the air, water and on the surfaces, which increases the risk of pollution in food products such as tofu.

Environmental groups also reported a serious pollution of toxic ash that accumulates around tofu factories and entering the food chain through free chicken.

A study conducted in 2024, which included the Jakarta -based research and invitation collection, found that half a free egg from sites near Tofu factories in Tropodo, Kawrang and Tangrang, west of Java, would exceed 48 times the daily dioxin levels.

The researchers pointed out that dioxins can cause growth problems in children, lead to genital problems and sterility in adults, lead to miscarriage, damage to the immune system and hormone overlap.

“They can spend 1.5 million rupees (97 dollars) per week to buy wood as a safer fuel,” said Yuyon Asmawi, one of the founders of Nexus3.

Another owner, who is anonymous, said that he is concerned about the health effects, but returning to Wood will increase the costs of six times. He urged the government to support factories to use cleaner fuel.

Novrizal Tahar, director of waste department at the Ministry of Environment in Indonesia, agreed that the practice is “dangerous for human health” and said that the government is working to impose an import ban.

To Dr. Citorene, this is only part of the problem.

She said that the biggest issue is the wealthy countries that export their waste to developing countries, a practice that it described as “colonization of waste.”