Hasanuddin University (UNHAS) has a policy framework to reduce plastic waste on campus, built up through a series of institutional instruments. It began with Circular No. 23643/UN4.1/KP.00.01/2019 on UNHAS as a Sustainable and Environmentally Conscious Campus, which encourages all units to reduce the use of paper, plastic, styrofoam, and similar materials that generate waste and to manage campus waste under the reduce, reuse, and recycle principles, including separating waste at source. Rector’s Regulation No. 11/UN4.1/2022 on Guidelines for the Arrangement of Campus Space and Building Utilisation then built these principles into campus management: Article 5(4) provides for programmes to reduce single-use paper and plastic across the campus, to reuse organic and non-organic waste, and to recycle waste on campus with adequate recycling facilities.

In 2024, the framework was strengthened by two Rector’s circulars:

• Rector’s Circular No. 09246/UN4.1/KM.01.03/2024 on the Prohibition of Single-Use Plastic Drinking Water Packaging and Plastic Bags, issued on 4 March 2024 and addressed to all faculties, institutes, directorates, bureaus, centres, and units. It bans single-use plastic drinking water packaging, plastic bags, and disposable plates and cups at meetings, training, and other unit activities; requires plastic waste to be controlled and waste to be separated into organic, inorganic, and hazardous categories; encourages the routine use of tumblers, reusable drinking bottles, and personal eating utensils; promotes reusable bags in canteen transactions; reduces plastic banners and backdrops at events; and requires unit leaders to communicate the ban within their units.
• Rector’s Circular No. 28720/UN4.1/KM.01.03/2024 on the Protection and Prevention of Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments from Pollution, which requires all work units to minimise plastic packaging to prevent pollution of water and land.

Faculties apply the policy in their own buildings. On 20 December 2024, the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry issued Circular No. 05501/UN4.16/PL.04/2024 on the Use of Tumblers, which asks all lecturers, staff, and students of the Faculty to bring and use tumblers to reduce plastic packaging for food and drinks, and provides drinking-water refill points with water dispensers on the ground floor of the Faculty’s main building. The university-level instruments remain in force and apply to the entire academic community; the Dean’s circular applies within the Faculty of Forestry.

Beyond formal policy, UNHAS turns this commitment into action:

1. Waste sorting from the first day on campus: on 11 August 2025, during the orientation for new students, the UNHAS GreenMetric team, the UNHAS SDGs Center, and the Makassar City Environmental Agency ran a sustainability campaign for thousands of new students in the university arena and faculty rooms, introducing the campus waste sorting system and inviting students to join the waste bank programme.
2. Participation in the national waste-awareness movement: for National Waste Care Day (Hari Peduli Sampah Nasional) 2025, UNHAS was one of eight universities in the “Asta Kampus dan Sekolah” collaboration, launched on 15 March 2025 by the Ministry of Environment/Environmental Control Agency with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. The collaboration, with 2,137 participants at eight universities and 56 schools, covers waste management education, waste banks on campuses and in schools, clean-up actions, and internal campus policies to reduce plastic waste.
3. Plastic reduction education in villages: on 18 January 2025, students of the 113th wave of the Thematic Student Community Service Programme (Kuliah Kerja Nyata Tematik, KKN-T) posted in Tasiwalie Village ran a Tumbler Movement for grade 3–6 pupils from three primary schools, encouraging them to bring their own water bottles instead of buying drinks in plastic packaging.
4. Integration into teaching: on 29 September 2025, 105 undergraduate and graduate students of the Department of Environmental Engineering reviewed Makassar City’s waste management system from upstream to downstream as part of the Solid Waste Processing course, gaining a practical understanding of urban waste cycles, including plastic waste.