'Trashion' sets trend for green campaigns

Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 06/25/2008 10:32 AM | City

Fashion from trash is at the frontline of green campaigning in the city. From hats to umbrellas to shower curtains, Trashion products are made out of the plastic packaging of soap and detergent products.

Trashion trendsetters are not haute couture designers or twiggy models, but rather modest homemakers, who produce and distribute the products from Jakarta to Singapore.

"These recycled products are not only sold at many exhibitions, but they are also exported to the United States and Malaysia," a housewife from a neighboring unit in Ciracas, East Jakarta, Sri Winarsih, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Winarsih, 48, said she and a group of six other homemakers in her neighborhood started to manually produce recycled items in 2006.

"Patience really is the key to making the green movement work. Previously, in 2003, I started to encourage to tree planting in every household," she said.

Winarsih, currently, coordinates six housewives daily to produce goods from plastic waste.

"They are paid according to the number of goods made on a monthly basis," said Winarsih, whose neighboring unit won in last year's Unilever Jakarta Green and Clean Competition.

Winarsih said that they had improved the quality of their products after getting training from the Unilever Peduli Foundation on how to make better designs, as well as on cutting and sewing techniques. The Unilever Peduli Foundation is the corporate social responsibility division of the manufacturer of leading brands of food, home care and personal products.

Winarsih is not a single fighter for the green movement in Jakarta. There are more than 100 homemakers across the city making these Trashion products.

"We can make 10 to 15 items per day, from small wallets to shower curtains, which sell between Rp 20,000 (US$2.12) and Rp 400,000," said R. Istari, another homemaker of a neighboring unit in Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta, who started making Trashion last year.

Istari said that the Unilever Peduli Foundation helps her to export the recycled products to Singapore.

There are Trashion producers in 10 areas of the five municipalities in Jakarta.

"Every area produces export-quality products, but have varying output volumes," said Istari, whose neighboring unit selected as one of the five units representing East Jakarta in this year's Jakarta Green and Clean Competition.

Besides the unit in Cipinang Melayu, the competition committee selected a unit in Bambu Apus, Malaka Sari, Malaka Jaya and Susukan on Friday out of the 60 neighboring units in East Jakarta for the competition.

Previously, the committee had also selected five South Jakarta's units, including the one in Cipulir, Mampang Prapatan, Kebayoran Lama Selatan, Pasar Minggu and Pesanggrahan.

Five units representing Central Jakarta are from Cempaka Putih Timur, two units from Serdang, as well as another two from Cempaka Putih Barat.

"On November, we will select the winner out of the 25 selected nominees. Each of them will be given stimulant fund worth Rp 1 million," said environment program manager of the Unilever Peduli Foundation, Silvi Tirawaty, on Friday.

"We want to ensure that every entrant learns to become environment cadres," said Silvi, adding when the program first launched in 2006.

Jakarta is the second city to hold this annual Green and Clean Competition, previously held in Surabaya, East Java. Since being held in Surabaya, the competition has also been held in Yogyakarta. This year, it will also be held for the first time in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

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