Alner

Alner is an Indonesian social enterprise tackling the country's plastic waste crisis by providing a reusable and returnable packaging system for everyday household products. Founded in 2020 as Koinpack by Bintang Ekananda, the company was born from the observation of widespread use of hard-to-recycle plastic sachets and a low national recycling rate. Ekananda, an environmental engineer, aimed to introduce a deposit-return model to reduce single-use plastic waste at its source.

The company, whose name stands for "Alternative Container," partners with major Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brands like Unilever and P&G to offer products such as detergents, soaps, and food items in durable, reusable containers. Its business model operates through a network of community-based points of sale (PoS), including local convenience stores (*warungs*), waste banks (*bank sampah*), and peer-to-peer sellers. Consumers purchase products through these PoS partners or online, and upon returning the empty containers, they receive a cashback reward, incentivizing participation in the circular system. Alner then collects, cleans, and restocks the packaging for its FMCG partners, creating a closed-loop system.

To manage this ecosystem, Alner provides its PoS partners with a mobile application to track inventory, sales, and packaging returns, while also quantifying the amount of plastic waste avoided. This digital platform empowers micro-entrepreneurs by providing them with an additional revenue stream and business performance data. The company has received support and funding from various organizations, including the Mastercard Strive Innovation Fund and Project TRANSFORM, to enhance its app with features like training materials, gamification, and digital payments to further support its small business partners. Since its inception, Alner has expanded across the Greater Jakarta region, preventing hundreds of thousands of single-use plastic items from entering the environment and planning further expansion to other Indonesian cities.

Keywords: reusable packaging, circular economy, plastic waste reduction, FMCG, social enterprise, deposit-return system, sustainable consumption, micro-entrepreneurship, waste management, cleantech