JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana

Making a drastic decision that goes against the mainstream is rarely easy, especially if it affects your income. Nevertheless, that is what Sukadi did.

Sukadi, a 39-year-old resident of Dadapan hamlet in Pandanrejo village, Kota Batu, used to sell fruits and vegetables. He had been in the business since graduating from junior high school in 1987.

Twenty years later, at the end of 2007, he decided to change his profession: He became a “organic” garbage processor, collecting vegetable waste and turning it into compost.

He had his reasons for the change. As he told The Jakarta Post, he wanted to see his neighborhood become clean and to change people’s waste-management behavior.

“I also wanted to redeem myself. For decades, as a fruit and vegetable seller, I had thrown away the waste without considering the environmental impact,” he said.

“I am aware of the impact of my choice of life. Money comes from God. I believe it. I am really aware of my being a waste collector means and am willing to do it,” he added earnestly.

Sukadi, the head of a neighborhood unit, was first “enlightened” when he joined a field study held by the Environmental Services Program (ESP) of USAID East Java in Malang, from early 2007 until the end of August that same year.

After he made a comparison study in the Jambangan area of Surabaya city, Sukadi became more determined to get into waste management. He was motivated upon learning that a kampung with 2,000 families could manage their waste well by processing it into compost and that it did not produce bad odors.

“That got me wondering and I felt the challenge to implement the same thing in my kampung,” he said.

At first, Sukardi applied for the provision of 30 waste containers and one compost processor tube with the ESP of USAID East Java, to start processing waste in his housing compound.

Sukadi later managed to develop his waste-processing activities and worked on 52 of compost processor tubes; the number of waste containers increased to 132 units.

Since early September 2007, Sukardi has been able to produce his own compost processor tubes, having by then learned how to make them. He later sold the tubes to environmental groups in East Java, including in Kota Batu, Malang and Pasuruan.

Of the 110 compost processor tubes in Kota Batu, 70 were made by Sukadi.

“I didn’t just sell them, but I also supported the groups, even if they were out of town, until they could process the organic waste into compost using the compost processor tube,” said Sukadi.

His hard work is bearing fruit. In the past, about five to six carts of waste were transported from the hamlet every week; now it is three or four.

Locals no longer throw waste into the gutter or river. They were embarrassed whenever they saw Sukadi quietly picking up the waste from the gutter in front of their house and putting in the compost processor tubes.

In Sukadi’s kampung, there are four vegetable sellers, each producing 300 kilograms of waste every day. They used to give away the old corn, cabbage, cauliflowers, carrots, potatoes and other vegetables as animal feed.

“If they still had some left, they just threw it into the river. I want to show them how to change the waste into blessings,” Sukadi said.

With the knowledge he gained, Sukadi processed the waste into quality organic fertilizer. All his fertilizer is processed in Pandanrejo village with 10 compost processor tubes, each with a 120-liter capacity.

By selling the organic fertilizer, he could make between Rp 100,000 and Rp 200,000 per week. In a good week, he could earn as much as Rp 300,000. On average, his monthly income is Rp 700,000.
“It is less than my income when I sold vegetables. At that time I had a profit of at least Rp 1.8 million.

But now I have inner satisfaction,” said Sukadi.

The most important thing, according to Sukadi, is that people are now free of the headache of having to find a place to dump their waste. With proper waste management, the waste is tossed into the compost processor tubes, which are never full and do not stink.

The native of Pandanrejo village said that at first his plan met with a lot of resistance from his family, especially his wife, Sulastri. It took him a year to make her accept his choice in life.

“We argued for a while. But finally I gave up. What could I do if he had made up his mind? I could just surrender to my fate,” said Sulastri, 40. The two have a 10-year-old son, David Arisandi.

Sukadi’s work has been recognized by others, both in Kota Batu and nationwide. Even though he has not received any environmental awards, he is often asked to help manage waste in other areas.

He has also received orders to make 30 compost processor tubes for Rp 300,000 each. The orders have come from college students, hotels, local administrations and the State Ministry for the Environment in Jakarta.

Sukadi did “field research” about waste management in hotels in Kota Batu, by going acting as a real trash picker.

“It turned out that many big hotels failed to properly manage their waste. [The waste management] was inefficient and expensive,” he said.

To raise awareness of the need for proper waste management, Sukadi joined the Forum for the Study of Water and the Environment toward Nature’s Harmony (Fokal Mesra).

He later shared his knowledge with five residents who act as local champions for organic waste management. He has also trained between two and five such champions in every village in Kota Batu.

Interestingly, most of them are women. “Maybe women have greater awareness about the environment and relatively more spare time,” said Sukadi.

With the support of students at State Islamic University (UIN) Malang, Sukadi is now working on mapping temporary and final dumps. He is determined to create the right method so that waste will no longer pose a problem for people.

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