The University of Plymouth is among the key partners in a multimillion-pound project aiming to create "hope spots" in Indonesia's battle against plastic waste.
The ambitious three-and-a-half-year project, supported by UK Research and Innovation's Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), will involve an international and multi-disciplinary team.
They will research and model the flow of plastic waste across the country, and develop case study sites in the tourist hotspot of Bali and the fishing port of Pasuran to use as templates for tackling plastic pollution in other regions of Indonesia and across the world.
The Plymouth element of the project - which has been awarded around £1million in funding - will be led by Professor of Ocean and Society Melanie Austen, and Professor of Marine Biology Richard Thompson OBE.
They will work with colleagues at Brunel University London (who are leading the overall project) and the University of Leeds, as well as five Indonesian universities, the Indonesian Institute of Science and industry partners SYSTEMIQ.
The project is backed by a grant of £3.8million from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), as part of a wider £20million round of funding from the GCRF.
The Indonesian government announced in 2017 that it hopes to reduce the amount of marine plastics it produces by 70% by 2025. Across the country, only 39% of waste is collected for proper disposal and it's estimated that six million tonnes of waste a year is either burnt or dumped in the environment.
The use of plastic bags, straws and Styrofoam has already been prohibited in some areas, such as Bali, and the scientists will now look to model how effective such interventions can be.
The team say that not only will they accurately model the 'leakage' of waste from the land into the oceans, and confirm their models with an extensive fieldwork programme, they will also gain a clearer understanding of what the economic, cultural and social reasons behind it are, and can start developing specific interventions that will help significantly reduce it.
They plan to create what they call 'living laboratories' at the case study sites where experts from different disciplines and sectors will be brought together with civil society to look at which solutions will work and what the relative costs and benefits of each might be.
The multinational group includes the Indonesian national and regional governments, the Indonesian and International Solid Waste Associations, the Indian Institute of Science, the Asian Institute of Technology, the Indonesian Plastics Association, Enviu Foundation, WRAP, and Giraffe Innovation Consultants.
Prof Sir Duncan Wingham, Executive Director of NERC, said:
"Pollution caused by plastic waste is one of the world's biggest environmental challenges, and UKRI is at the forefront of funding research to find solutions. These awards totalling £20 million are a vital step in helping world-leading researchers develop realistic and feasible solutions to reduce plastic pollution while enabling equitable, sustainable growth. Our investment in international development research aims to positively impact the lives of millions of people across the world and supports global efforts to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals."
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