14/06/2026
In Indonesia, mountains of imported plastic waste, often mixed in with paper recycling, arrive daily in small villages like Sumberejo. For many families, sorting this waste has become their main way to make a living.
Each village receives around 50 tonnes of low-quality plastic every day. The plastic piles up in front of people’s homes, where women, many over 40, work as informal ‘plastic farmers’.
They separate the paper, which can be resold to factories, but large amounts of plastic can’t be recycled. With nowhere to send it, the community burns it as fuel.
Homes and small industries use this plastic waste to power limestone kilns and tofu factories. These fires often burn for days at a time, releasing thick, toxic smoke into the air.
Air pollution caused by burning plastic waste is a growing public health concern, particularly in rural parts of Indonesia where waste management is limited.
A new study led by Dr Asri Maharani at The University of Manchester and funded by the British Heart Foundation is investigating how this pollution contributes to the risk of heart and circulatory disease among affected populations.
One of the study’s key goals is to feed its findings into health and environmental policy.
The team is working closely with Indonesian health authorities, and all data collected will support the country’s new national screening programme, which provides health checks on citizens’ birthdays.
