"Cynthia Wijaya discusses the importance of recognizing the worth of waste in the context of an Indonesian packaging company's shift towards circularity"
In the heart of Indonesia, Cynthia Handriani Wijaya, a 30-year-old executive at Daya Selaras Group, has spearheaded a remarkable transformation. This family business, traditionally a corrugated carton manufacturer, has been reimagined as a circular economy company, with a focus on waste paper recycling.
Wijaya's journey began during the Covid-19 pandemic when she experienced an "internal awakening" due to the clogging of waste management systems by discarded face masks and packaging from online deliveries. This sparked her interest in the potential of the circular economy for paper packaging in Indonesia.
In 2020, Wijaya took a post-graduate course at Cambridge University to learn the fundamentals of the circular economy. Armed with new knowledge, she led the creation of a new unit that would transform Daya Selaras Group into a circular business. One of the key initiatives was the spin-off of the recycling arm, Daur Ulang Selaras (DUS).
Initially, Wijaya faced skepticism from her father, but she proved the business model was viable. Under her leadership, DUS recycled an impressive 67,000 tonnes of paper waste in a single year, saving 1.1 million trees and offsetting 16.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The transformation of Daya Selaras Group into a circular economy company has been marked by the launch of the RE-DUS app in 2021. This innovative platform allows customers and the broader ecosystem to recycle paper waste and PET plastic bottles. The app has also broadened DUS's waste supplier base, enabling the company to collaborate with informal waste collectors who supply 40-60% of the waste.
Wijaya emphasises the importance of educating waste collectors on better segregation of waste paper to improve recycling quality and scale the business effectively. She has worked with the Indonesian Packaging Recovery Organisation (IPRO) and e-commerce firms like GoTo and Blibli to implement the circular model for paper packaging waste.
Looking ahead, Wijaya aims to increase the Circular Transition Indicator (CTI) score by another 5-7 per cent by 2025. She also plans to open a new waste management warehouse in Bandung, West Java, later this year.
Wijaya's efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2021, she was recognised on a website's Sustainability Leadership A-List Youth 2025 for her push to spin off Daya Selaras Group's recycling arm, DUS.
Wijaya's vision is for Daya Selaras Group to become Indonesia’s leading business-to-business waste management platform within five years. She believes that this will not only create environmental benefits but also ensure business sustainability. By educating waste collectors and implementing circular economy principles, Wijaya is demonstrating that waste has value and can generate income.
- Cynthia Handriani Wijaya, through her work at Daya Selaras Group, has demonstrated corporate responsibility by transitioning its corrugated carton manufacturing focus to a circular economy, prioritizing waste paper recycling.
- Wijaya's shift towards a circular economy is aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 13: Climate Action, as evidenced by her initiatives reducing deforestation, carbon emissions, and waste.
- In her pursuit of this transformation, Wijaya has utilized the knowledge gained from a postgraduate course in environmental-science at Cambridge University to drive innovation, such as the creation of Daur Ulang Selaras (DUS) and the RE-DUS app, both significant contributions to the science of recycling and waste management in the industry.
- To ensure financial success alongside environmental sustainability, Wijaya has extended her efforts beyond DUS, working with e-commerce firms like GoTo and Blibli to promote the circular economy model and contribute to the broader finance sector's understanding of its benefits.
- By focusing on environmental-science, waste management, and the circular economy, Wijaya's vision for Daya Selaras Group is to become a leading business-to-business waste management platform in Indonesia, demonstrating that sustainability and finance can coexist within the industry.
