Prevented Ocean Plastic Southeast Asia (POPSEA) helped collect more than 718.5kg of plastic bottles as a sustainability partner at Cherrypop 2026, bringing practical plastic collection and recycling education to one of Yogyakarta’s biggest music festivals.
Across August 22nd and 23rd, the festival welcomed 33,000 people to celebrate music, art and Indonesia’s creative community. Alongside the performances, the partnership gave visitors an opportunity to learn what happens to their discarded bottles and how that material can be collected, recycled and used again.
Thousands of water refills were also provided, giving festivalgoers an alternative to buying additional single-use bottles.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Cherrypop 2026, and we hope other music festivals will also consider having sustainability partners,” said Daniel Lawrence Angelo, CEO of POPSEA.
“Events like this naturally generate a significant amount of plastic bottle waste. Our presence is an opportunity to show that managing plastic waste is a shared responsibility.”
Organised by Swasembada Kreasi, Cherrypop brings together musicians, filmmakers, visual artists and culinary creators. For POPSEA, it was an opportunity to connect with young people in a setting they already enjoy, making recycling part of the festival experience.
“People may still lack information about plastic waste — what it is, why it needs to be managed and what recycled material can eventually become. We want to answer those questions and give people a better understanding of what happens after plastic is discarded,” said Mr. Angelo.
That understanding is backed by practical infrastructure. POPSEA operates collection and sorting facilities across 12 Indonesian cities, including Bantul, connecting discarded plastic with a supply chain that returns it to use as recycled material.
Across its network, POPSEA works with 340 employees and 1,669 waste collectors. More than half of its workforce are women, including women in leadership positions. Their work makes collection and recycling possible, at public events and in the communities the facilities serve every day.
The Cherrypop partnership brought this work to a wider audience while delivering a tangible collection result. It also demonstrated how event organisers can give visitors practical ways to manage their plastic waste, alongside access to drinking-water refills.
POPSEA plans to build on the collaboration by working with more music festivals and other large public events across Indonesia.
Thank you to the Cherrypop organisers, collection teams and festivalgoers who helped recover more than 718.5kg of plastic bottles. Partnerships like this put collection infrastructure and recycling knowledge where people can use them.
About Prevented Ocean Plastic™: POP is high quality, compliant recycled plastic that has been collected from coastal communities at risk of ocean plastic pollution. Used by supermarkets and brands around the world, it meets regulatory health and safety standards, is traceable back to source and can be identified on-pack through its distinctive triangular logo. Prevented Ocean Plastic™ supply major manufacturing partners such as Groupe Guillin, Spectra Packaging, and Berry Global for offerings across multiple product categories, including food and drink, personal care, pet products and home cleaning. Prevented Ocean Plastic™ is an award-winning, three-time Earthshot Prize nominee, and has collected over 2.5 billion plastic bottles from where they don’t belong since 2020
