Alternative methods for reforestation and land rehabilitation to reduce the plastics waste in forest areas

Abstract

Abstract The accumulation of mismanaged plastic waste in the environment is a serious problem in Indonesia and become a global growing concern. Implementation of mitigation policies to reduce the use of plastics is very urgent, including in reforestation and land rehabilitation programs revealed by many plastics (polybags) used in seedling production for forest planting. Reducing the plastic waste in the planted forest areas can apply some alternative methods that were applied in several regions, such as direct seeding, bare-root seedling and bio-pot seedling. In this paper, application of several methods would be assessed as alternative methods for reforestation and land rehabilitation. Bio-pot seedlings had the highest growth performances in nursery and field test for several tree species, followed by polybag seedling, and direct seeding using seed briquette. However, seedling grown from direct seeding using seed briquette tended to have better root formation, especially in tap root length, tap root biomass and bellow-ground biomass. Direct seeding was estimated twice lower compared to transplanting using polybag or bio-pot seedlings. Furthermore, use of bio-pot seedlings was more effective in rapidly growth and establishing canopy. Direct seeding using seed briquette was a promising alternative technique for land rehabilitation and reforestation, especially for remote areas.