In March and November, LoVeMar, together with seven other Norwegian companies, participated in Innovation Norway’s Global Growth Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The forum theme was plastics and waste management. The amounts of waste and plastic in the seas and rivers in the area around Jakarta, as well as the size of the landfills in the city made a strong impression on the delegation from Norway.

During the participation in the Global Growth Forum, LoVeMar visited Jakarta’s largest landfill and was given a tour by the waste disposal company Waste 4 Change. The company receives 1,300 trucks of garbage every day. Landfills like this can turn into 40 meters high garbage dumps. Over 10,000 people of all ages had jobs as garbage collectors at the depot in Jakarta. On a national basis, there are over 3 million garbage collectors.

Indonesia has a big job ahead with the garbage challenge but now it’s on the agenda. Waste as a topic has been raised at all stages of education, from primary school up to higher education. When it comes to waste management and clean-up of seas and rivers, LoVeMar hopes that Norwegian companies and the rest of the world can assist Indonesia. Large amounts of waste, plastic and polluted water flow daily from the Indonesian rivers into the world’s oceans, forming huge ocean eddies of liquid plastic and waste.

The Norwegian companies LoVeMar, Melbu Systems, EGGA Utvikling, Andøya Space Center, Avfall Norge, Auritsius, SALT and EMPower shared the podium with ministers and directors under Global Growth and presented their ideas, solutions and ambitions. The trip to Jakarta, all the meetings with colleagues in the industry, the strong impressions, the common commitment to a cleaner sea and the certainty that the solutions exist, are very inspiring. LoVeMar is ready to roll up its sleeves.

Global Growth is Innovation Norway’s export program. The program aims to connect established Norwegian companies with relevant Norwegian and international players in the same industry. The goal of the program is to create safe arenas for competence and network building that open doors for growth and development also in the international market. As part of the program, companies visit international markets.