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Single-use plastic sachets may be small individually but they are mounting up to a big environmental issue, particularly in developing countries.
Ubiquitous across South-East Asia, they are popular due to their low cost per item, and used to package almost everything: cosmetics, instant coffee, soap, condiments and countless other everyday items.
In Indonesia, it's estimated more than a million tonnes of unprocessed sachets will have been thrown away by 2030.
Tonnes of sachets in the environment
Global consumer goods giants like Unilever, Nestle, Danone, and Procter & Gamble sell sachets mostly to customers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
In recent years, about 50 per cent of all sachets have been sold in South-East Asia, according to the Dietplastik Indonesia group, which aims to reduce single-use plastic.
A citizen initiative called Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) collected about 33,500 plastic sachets across Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India, between October 2023 and February 2024.
They're a regional problem, but almost a third were found in Indonesia.
Research conducted by the University of Indonesia and Dietplastik Indonesia on the social and environmental impacts of sachet waste showed that on average each Indonesian disposes of 4 kilograms of sachet waste per year, mostly from food and beverage products.
If there is no intervention, 1.1 million tonnes will have ended up as unprocessed waste in Indonesia's landfills and environment by 2030, according to the report.
Why are sachets used so much?
Single-use sachets are cheap to make, have a wide range of uses and have good resistance to temperature and pressure, despite their reduced thickness compared to regular packaging, the University of Indonesia report said.
For liquid products such as detergent, sachets are said to be able to cut production costs by up to 50 per cent compared to bottle packaging.
They are also popular with consumers.
Almost half of respondents to a University of Indonesia in Greater Jakarta survey last year on why people preferred sachets chose "more affordable prices" as their reason.
Other popular responses included "it contains the right amount of product" and is "easy to carry".
Yogyakarta resident Aristayanu, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, told the ABC he usually buys chili sauce, shampoo, and condiments in sachets.
"Sachet packaging indeed helps us in managing our cash flow," he said.
"If you compare it with regular packaging, in terms of price — it's actually cheaper.
"Sachet packaging is more practical and suits travel needs."
Deny Permana, who lives in Jakarta, buys detergent, fabric freshener, and shampoo in sachet packaging.
"The amount of product [in sachets] tends to be more precise … it is easier for me to measure it compared to the bottled packaging," Mr Permana told ABC.
Mr Permana said price was another factor.
"When there are attractive promotions from manufacturers, I would occasionally buy the regular packages, but up to now, I am still comfortable buying sachets," he added.
How are sachets different to other waste?
BFFP defines sachets as sealed, flexible plastic packaging, designed for single-use, with any number of layers of plastics and other materials, such as metal or paper, no larger than A4 paper.
The difficulty of processing these tiny packages in waste management systems means the sachets usually end up in landfills, rivers, and beaches, harming ecosystems, wildlife, and ultimately, human health and livelihoods.
Vidya Naiknaware, a waste picker with the SWaCH Cooperative India, said "we consistently encounter an issue with these tiny wrappers and sachets".
"They cannot be composted or recycled due to their negligible value, their size makes them practically impossible to collect," she said.
The head of sustainable development research at the University of Indonesia, Bisuk Sisungkunon, said sachets were "unfriendly for the environment and health".
Mr Sisungkunon said the study conducted by his team estimated the environmental and social costs of improperly handled plastic sachets in Indonesia at around 1.7 trillion Indonesian rupiahs ($150 million) per year.
He said only about 36 per cent of sachet waste was properly processed and recycled.
Thousands sold every second
Single-use sachets were first mass-produced by Hindustan Unilever, the Indian arm of UK's Unilever, in the 1980s to sell small portions of shampoo for 1 rupee per sachet ($0.018).
Almost five decades later, Unilever is now selling 1,700 plastic sachets every single second, according to a report released by environmental organisation Greenpeace last year.
The same report said "Unilever is on track to sell 53 billion sachets in 2023".
The ABC contacted Unilever to check the figures but it choose not to respond to the question.
It did, however, acknowledge there was a problem, and a spokesperson told the ABC "we have much more work to do".
"We have made real, tangible progress to reduce plastic waste. For example, we have increased our use of recycled plastic (PCR) in our global portfolio to 22 per cent," they said in a statement.
"Reducing our virgin plastic use and developing alternatives for hard-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging, like plastic sachets, remains a priority.
"We're working on a range of solutions to reduce our use of plastic sachets, and replace them with alternative materials, formats and models.
"We are fully committed to working with industry partners and other stakeholders to develop viable, scalable alternatives that reduce plastic waste."
A Plastic Planet, an environmental organisation in the UK, has estimated about 855 billion plastic sachets are sold every year.
BFFP said 86 per cent of the sachet waste collected was food packaging for items from about 2,700 different brands.
According to the BFFP Asia Pacific brand audit report, the top 10 sachet producers are: Unilever (UK), Wings (Indonesia), Mayora Indah (Indonesia), Balaji Wafers Private Limited (India), Procter & Gamble (US), Nestle (Switzerland), Yes 2 Healthy Life (Singapore), JG Summit Holdings (Philippines), and Salim Group (Indonesia).
All companies are in the business of selling things like processed food, drinks and personal care products.
Is anyone doing anything?
In Indonesia, Ministry of Environment regulations encourage producers to reduce waste from packaging by 30 per cent of the total production by 2029 and to phase out smaller sachets by 2030.
"However, only 42 producers have submitted waste reduction road maps and 16 pilot project stages," BFFP's Indonesia Project Team said.
BFFP said "some corporations opt for false solutions, such as burning sachets as fuel for various industries, further exacerbating the issue".
In Vietnam, the government mandates corporations collect and recycle sachets and other plastic packaging.
"But limited recycling capacity makes it incredibly challenging to handle all sachet waste safely," Xuan Quach from Vietnam Zero Waste Alliance said.
"We need a multi-pronged approach of phasing out sachets alongside significant investments in reuse systems."
The quitsachets.org site proposed that Unilever:
- Build zero-waste stores that do not use plastic packaging;
- Create mobile refill stations so that it is easier and cheaper for consumers to refill refills;
- Use small format PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) containers that are reusable and refillable; and
- Provide vending machines that dispense package-free products that can be put in reusable containers.
The ABC understands Unilever has increased the number of refill stations, where people can fill reusable containers with products from several brands, to about 800.
It has also offered incentives for people to return used packages and try using refillable containers.
Mr Aristayanu and Mr Permana said consumers also need to play a role in environmental sustainability.
"I hope that household necessities can be sold using the refill method — so we don't need to buy sachets or regular packaging, which both create waste," Mr Permana said.