– Alner is the platform that covers your daily needs. Everything from soap to rice and oils, entirely without waste, by delivering the products in returnable and refillable containers.
This is how Bintang Ekanda explains the project, which has already had enormous impact on the local community and the environment in the Indonesian capital. Ekanda is the CEO of Alner, which he helped establish just four years ago.
Since 2023 alone, they have avoided the production of more than 500,000 single-use packaging items and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 17 tonnes.
Rewarding collaboration
Detergents, food products and hair products: At more than 600 points of sale in Jakarta, consumers can now purchase these in environmentally friendly containers which, instead of being thrown away after use, can be returned to the shop and reused again and again.
“We came up with the idea for Alner because Indonesia has a problematic relationship with the consumption of single-use plastic,” explains Ekanada.
Alner began collaborating with The Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund in 2023, and Ekanada says the project funding from the Fund has been essential in their efforts to establish themselves in more locations. In addition, it has helped them develop the technology they use in their warehouses, where they wash and prepare used packaging for redistribution to shops. Ekanada shares that, in their experience, plastic bottles are the best option for reuse in low-income markets, as they can be reused up to 50 times.
Cleaning products are one of the product categories available in reusable packaging. Photo: Alner
– We should have had Alner everywhere
Alner reports that it has reached all the milestones it has set so far. Since receiving funding from the Fund, it has brought a further 500 retail outlets into the project and created six new jobs. The project also launched three new products aimed at customers with lower incomes. As a result, Alner avoided more than 232,000 units of single-use plastic, generated more than USD 50,000 in additional income for micro-entrepreneurs, and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 17 tonnes.
Eline Leising is Chief Program Officer at the Dutch foundation Enviu, which has Alner as one of its initiatives. She is pleased that the project has made such significant progress in such a short time.
“Ideally, we should have Alner everywhere! There should be one large shared packaging system for all the major suppliers. That would make it possible for all kinds of consumers to join the reuse revolution and use Alner for their everyday needs.”
