Indonesia to Tighten Used Shoe Import Controls After Reuters Report

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia will tighten customs checks at little ports to crackdown on the unlawful import of next-hand footwear, the marketplace ministry mentioned on Monday, responding to a Reuters report that observed footwear donated to a recycling plan in Singapore was shipped to Indonesia.

A six-month Reuters investigation published on Feb. 25 found that 10 pairs of sneakers the news agency donated to a recycling scheme operate by U.S. petrochemicals big Dow and the Singapore governing administration were exported for resale in Indonesia.

Reuters reporters, working with area trackers hidden within the soles of footwear, recovered sneakers it donated in Singapore at second-hand products markets in the Indonesian cash Jakarta and on Batam, an island 12 miles (19 km) south of Singapore.

In 2015, Indonesia banned the import of second-hand clothing and footwear over concerns about hygiene, as effectively as to safeguard the nearby textile business.

In a assertion titled “dismantling the scandal of illegal imports of utilised footwear”, Indonesia’s Ministry of Marketplace mentioned that as a end result of the Reuters story it would boost checks at ports to intercept any unlawful next-hand shoe shipments.

“This incident demonstrates that the unlawful import of employed shoes is carried out in an organised manner and misuses social initiatives,” Marketplace Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita was quoted as declaring in the statement.

“The apply of illegal importation of utilised sneakers ought to be stopped mainly because it has a bad impression on the domestic footwear market.”

The ministry is also proposing new incentives for community footwear companies importing raw products for their businesses, and imposing tighter polices on companies importing textiles, the assertion claimed.

In July 2021, Dow and Activity Singapore, a government agency, introduced a programme to grind down old footwear with rubberised soles into granules to be applied to make new jogging tracks and playgrounds. The public donated tens of countless numbers of sneakers to the scheme.

On Feb. 27, two times soon after the Reuters story was revealed, Dow and Activity Singapore issued a assertion apologising to the community for a “lapse” in its provide chain which had led to some sneakers intended for recycling being shipped to Indonesia.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe Crafting by Joe Brock Enhancing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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