Enviro News Asia, Jakarta – The Minister of Environment, Hanif Faisol Nurofik, announced that the Ministry of Environment will handle the waste generated by the government’s free nutritious meal program. The volume of waste from this program is expected to be significant, given the large number of students benefiting from the free nutritious meals.
“We estimate the amount of waste to be quite substantial, considering items like milk cartons and other packaging. This is something we will address seriously,” said Minister of Environment Hanif Faisol Nurofik at the Ministry of Environment Office, Jakarta, on Monday, January 6, 2025.
Hanif has tasked his team with directly monitoring the implementation of the program across various regions to identify the types of waste involved, including organic waste, plastic, and paper waste.
“I will personally lead the monitoring of this free nutritious meal program to ensure it runs optimally,” Hanif stated. For its implementation, the Ministry of Environment will coordinate with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, as well as local governments.
The free nutritious meal program officially began on Monday, January 6, 2025, coinciding with the start of the second semester of the 2024/2025 academic year.
Head of the Presidential Communications Office, Hasan Nasbi, reported that the program is being implemented in 190 locations across 26 provinces. Data from the National Nutrition Agency shows that 190 Nutrition Fulfillment Service Units (SPGG) or MBG kitchens are operational. In its initial phase, the program targets children from kindergarten (TK) to junior high school (SMP) levels, rolled out gradually.
According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, in the 2023/2024 academic year, there were approximately 3.74 million kindergarten students across Indonesia. The number of elementary school (SD) students totaled 24.04 million, while junior high school students (SMP) in both public and private institutions numbered 9.97 million. Overall, the total number of students across all educational levels in Indonesia reached 53.14 million.
