Responsible Consumption and Production

UNESA commits to cutting plastic use on its campus

Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) reduces avoidable plastic use through procurement requirements, reusable drinking bottles, refill facilities and faculty-level 3R programmes. These measures connect institutional policy with practical alternatives that students, lecturers and staff can use in everyday campus activities.

Policy framework and faculty implementation

The Sustainable Procurement Circular of 31 July 2023 asks purchasing units to request sustainable, environmentally friendly packaging and increase the use of recycled goods. UNESA’s published plastic-reduction account also records the Ketintang campus commitment to reduce plastic bags by providing reusable shopping bags, in line with Surabaya Mayor’s Regulation No. 16 of 2022. The commitment was included in the Environmental Evaluation Document following the 21 May 2025 review and its approval on 28 July 2025.

Rector’s Regulation No. 12 of 2026 on Occupational Safety, Health and the Environment provides the wider environmental framework. As described in the institutional account, Article 9(1)(b) addresses waste and energy reduction, Article 9(5) includes sorting, recycling, composting and waste-bank activities, and Article 9(7) supports environmental education and campaigns.

At the Faculty of Food Security, the 2025 Dean’s Circular on the 3R principles encourages waste prevention, reuse and recycling. A related 2025 circular addresses single-use plastic drinking bottles and promotes personal tumblers as the replacement. These faculty policies are described in the institutional evidence account and connect the university’s environmental expectations with daily practices in the faculty.

Reusable bottles and drinking water

UNESA’s 2026 programme reporting describes free drinking-water dispensers across campus buildings and campaigns encouraging students, lecturers and staff to bring personal bottles. Its earlier Programme to Reduce the Use of Paper and Plastic on Campus documents bottle-refill arrangements and awareness activities. The 2025 Social, Economic and Environmental Impact Report also records a reverse-osmosis drinking-water system provided in cooperation with CV Niaga Kemasan Indonesia, supporting reduced dependence on single-use packaged water.

Figure 12.2.5.2. Reverse-osmosis drinking-water installation supporting alternatives to packaged drinking water. Supporting evidence.

Campus participation and continued implementation

The Faculty of Education launched its Waste Bank on 1 September 2025, encouraging students and staff to separate plastic bottles and cups, with collection points near the main building and canteen. This recovery activity complements the preventive measures by providing a route for plastic that remains in use.

The IPPI coordination meeting on 4 March 2026 discussed reusable drinking bottles and stronger campus sustainability measures. A subsequent IPPI report on 18 September 2026 described bringing tumblers as an established campus habit. Programme reporting also identifies the Mathematics Education study programme’s National Waste Awareness Day campaign, which encourages personal tumblers and reduced plastic-straw use.

Plastic reduction forms part of a wider effort to minimise disposable materials. The Rector’s 2025 circular encouraging digital learning and assessment through SIDIA, the university’s learning-management system, reduces reliance on printed academic materials. Alongside reusable bottles and refill facilities, these measures connect individual habits with the university’s broader 3R approach.

Student activity extends plastic awareness beyond routine campus use. Memorandum’s report of 21 June 2026 describes five UNESA students presenting an ocean-themed costume at the Surabaya Fashion Festival using recovered plastic and cardboard. Their work used fashion to communicate the problem of marine plastic pollution.

Further information

For further information on UNESA’s sustainability initiatives and supporting evidence, please visit the UNESA SDGs Center.

SDG 12 evidence and related institutional information: Indicator 12.2.5.