Bag keeps environment healthy

Luh De Suryani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Tue, 03/10/2009 4:30 PM  |  Bali

Ni Luh Arie, 27, plans to gather as many pink detergent wrappings as she can so she can make a new bag with her favorite color.

"I wanted to buy the pink recycled bag, but they didn't have any; but apparently I can order one with the color and motif that I want. So it'll be faster if I gather my own materials, and cheaper too," she said Friday at the Bali Environmental Education Office (PPLH) in Sanur.

Bali PPLH is one of many recycling centers in Bali.

Another buyer, I Ketut Suwitra, has so far gotten three big brown bags made of instant coffee packets, which he bought for Rp 35,000 (US$2.90).

"I was actually looking for a bag made of my favorite instant noodle packaging, but they didn't have any," Suwitra said laughing.

Recycled goods from plastic waste have been gaining momentum recently, Suwitra said, admitting he had bought some for his friends who said they liked them.

"It's unique, and it gets interesting when we carry them to supermarkets," he said.

The PPLH has been recycling plastic waste into usable goods for some time now, churning out wallets, hats, stationery boxes, raincoats and so on.

"You can do it as long as you're smart and creative in making new designs. I for one still need to learn a lot," said I Made Ariana, from the Bali PPLH business division.

He added he had been learning to make things out of plastic waste for the past six months, and that he had gained most of his skills from learning by himself - choosing the right materials, sewing and combining the plastic waste with other materials.

"In Yogyakarta and Jakarta, there are lots of businesses growing up out of the plastic waste industry. There isn't a market in Bali quite yet, we're still only making products as ordered and for exhibitions," he said.

He added in order for Bali's plastic waste industry to grow, entrepreneurs would need agents interested in distributing the goods.

Ariana was positive that plastic waste-based products would gain traction.

"We always try to increase the quality of our work, like working on our designs and improving the quality of the sewing," he said.

Ariana received an order of 80 bags on Friday, which explained the mountains of colorful plastic trash filling the front yard and backyard of the Bali PPLH.

He said the creation process was simple. Plastic waste material (preferably from food, snack or detergent packaging, since the plastic was considered thick and strong) should first be washed and dried, before being assembled and sewn.

He said half a kilogram of plastic trash was enough to make one bag.

The recycled goods business may be gaining momentum in Bali indeed, as Ni Ketut Merti, 40, confessed.

The former unemployed woman began making bags out of recycled goods after learning the skills from the Bali PPLH.

"It's easy to learn and easy to do. I've had my friends over a lot to help me with it," Merti said, adding they were mostly neighbors from her area in Gang Mawar, Sanur.

She said that once a month, they would bring along plastic packaging for the material, or buy them from trash pickers.

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