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arbingah, head of the vocational high school SMKN 27 in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, looked proudly on an apparently half-baked greenhouse near the school's sport field, on Tuesday.

"We're going to have more plants, even vegetables, in there," she said.

Across from her is a plastic bucket filled with compost.

The future vegetable garden, Marbingah said, would use the compost produced by the school's environmentally conscious students.

"We may gather enough money to buy a garbage-disposal unit, which we can use to get much more compost than this," she said.

The vegetable garden is just one of the green patches the school boasts. The 1.5-hectare property is considerably leafy, with lush gardens splashed across front and back yards and even in a few hidden corners of the school.

The green areas, along with the compost making and solid waste recycling activities, and a number of biopore absorption holes in the school, have propelled SMKN 27 as one of the schools involved in the Toyota Eco Youth program, aimed at increasing environmental awareness among youths.

This year marks the program's fifth year, and involves 22 schools from 18 cities across Indonesia.

"We want the schools to have the environmentally friendly technology that will help them sustain their awareness of the matter," said Irwan Priyantoko, chief of external affairs for PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia.

Marbingah has more planned.

"We plan to filter our waste water and reuse it to water the plants. We'll also reduce paper waste by sticking to email," she said.

However, the school has some challenges to overcome.

"It's hard to raise students' awareness," said student Windy Bania.

One of their tasks is to make sure all students separate their organic and non-organic waste.

"But sometimes they think it's OK just to throw any kind of trash into the bin. It's even worse when they throw it on the ground!" said student Nurul Yunita.