Indonesia is working on tightening policies to eventually ban developed nations from sending their waste into the country. But as CGTN's Silkina Ahluwalia reports, an entire village in East Java relies heavily on the imported waste as their source of income.

GIMAN, HEAD BANGUN VILLAGE "I put three of my children through university by selling waste items for the past 18 years. We want the government not to shut this down because as you can see, this is a poor neighborhood and this is our livelihood."

He spends his day scavenging the area for anything from cans to plastic bags and scraps.

SILKINA AHLUWALIA MOJOKERTO, EAST VILLAGE "What you're seeing is the literal meaning of 'one man's trash is another man's treasure'. The waste here comes from countries like the UK, the United States and Germany. Scavengers here say they can make up to 9 US dollars per day selling these items to recycling facilities and other industries."

The UK is the highest exporter of waste into Indonesia with imports reaching 68 thousand tons in 2018. This is followed closely by Germany's 59 thousand tons. Now, the Indonesian government is working to strengthen their policies to make waste imports illegal, going as far as sending the waste back to their country of origin.

PRIGI ARISANDI ENVIRONMENTALIST "There needs to be a meeting point between the residents and the government. 3,000 people rely on the waste as their source of income. We have to see a gradual change. It can take 1 to 3 years. The residents need to know there are other ways they can make money. But they also should know this is not normal or healthy. Being exposed to burned plastic waste has serious health issues in the long run."

And while the locals rely heavily on the imported waste in Bangun Village, the Indonesian government is beginning to educate the residents on the health and environmental impacts it has on the region. Malaysia is another country that's trying to ban waste imports. 

Silkina Ahluwalia, CGTN, East Java, Indonesia.