Tofu factories in East Java are burning imported plastic waste from wealthy nations to cut fuel costs, exposing workers and communities to hazardous pollution.
Michael Neilson reports for The Guardian.
In short:
- Roughly 60 tofu factories in Tropodo, Indonesia, burn imported plastic waste — including wrappers from Australia, France, and the US — as fuel, despite national bans on open waste burning.
- Ecoton, an Indonesian environmental group, found microplastics in locally sold tofu and dangerously high dioxin levels in eggs from chickens near the factories, raising serious food safety and public health concerns.
- Much of the plastic waste arrives as contamination in scrap paper imports, a loophole that persists despite Indonesia’s 2025 ban on direct plastic waste imports.
Key quote:
“They could spend 1.5m rupiah ($97) per week to buy wood as a safer fuel. But with plastic scraps, company trucks drop it off for free.”
— Yuyun Ismawati, co-founder of Nexus3 Foundation
Why this matters:
The use of imported plastic waste as industrial fuel in food production is a textbook case of environmental injustice. Poorer nations like Indonesia are bearing the brunt of waste exported by wealthier countries, often under the guise of recycling. When burned, plastic releases a toxic cocktail of pollutants, including dioxins and microplastics, that contaminate air, soil, food, and water. These exposures have been linked to serious health effects, from cancer and immune dysfunction to reproductive harm. What’s happening in East Java is a warning about how international waste trade policies and local economic pressures can collide to endanger both environmental and human health.
Related: Pete Myers: Peering into the Plasticene, our future of plastic and plastic waste
