Cases / Plastic waste and recycling claims · Indonesia · 2018–2025
Plastic found in paper-waste bales imported into East Java
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Ecoton and Mongabay Indonesia recorded plastic in paper-waste bales imported into East Java. At stake are the health of the nearby villages of Tropodo and Bangun and the contamination of the local food chain.
What?
Plastic was found in paper-waste bales imported into East Java, above the legal limit for such imports.
Where?
Tropodo and Bangun, East Java, Indonesia
When?
Shipments recorded in 2018; pollution reported as continuing in 2025 Mongabay Indonesia
Who?
Gained
- European exporters — Shipped the paper waste to Indonesia Mongabay Indonesia
- Indonesian paper mills — Received the imported paper waste
Lost
None on recordHarmed
- Tropodo and Bangun villagers — Named in the reporting as bearing the health and environmental cost
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Paper waste imported as recovered paper, with plastic and household waste in the bales. Mongabay Indonesia
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
Ecoton and Mongabay Indonesia recorded plastic and household waste making up 30 to 35 percent of paper-waste bales imported into East Java, against a legal limit of 2 percent.
Mongabay Indonesia’s March 2025 report traced the trail of European waste to Indonesia.
Workers’ testimony cited in the reporting said the pollution was continuing in 2025.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: dioxin in eggs at Tropodo was about 70 times the BPOM standard, about 200 pg TEQ/g of fat (Mongabay Indonesia, 2021).
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: plastic was burned in tofu kilns at Tropodo (Mongabay Indonesia, 2021).
- None on record The sources reviewed do not give the number of people affected or any official health test result for Tropodo or Bangun.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say who paid for the health costs.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Menguak jejak sampah Eropa ke IndonesiaMongabay Indonesia · 2025-03-13
- Ketika telur ayam lebih beracun dibanding lokasi instalasi sampahMongabay Indonesia · 2021-07-08