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Novi Aryani: Passion for handicrafts from waste
Novi Aryani, a round-faced 24-year-old sales promotion girl for “Slimming Herbal” seemed an unlikely candidate to be working with waste
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ovi Aryani, a round-faced 24-year-old sales promotion girl for “Slimming Herbal” seemed an unlikely candidate to be working with waste.
In 2007, Novi was living in a poor, densely populated, sun-scorched neighborhood of Bener, Yogyakarta, when she was asked by an NGO to join a training program for making packaging waste into handicrafts. The NGO was supported by Unilever as part of their “corporate social responsibility” program called “perilaku hidup bersih dan sehat” (healthy and clean behavior). Unilever produces much packaged goods and therefore packaging waste in Indonesia.
Twenty-seven members from neighboring RTs were trained in waste and handicrafts by the NGO. Novi was the only one from her neighborhood chosen to attend the course, which trained and encouraged her to form a group making handicrafts from packaging waste in her own kampung.
Most of these cadres did not continue with what they had learned, but Novi was excited by the course and captivated by the products that could be made from recycled waste. She was determined to create a waste management and handicraft processing business in her community but received little support from her village or neighborhood headmen. Despite the lack of support, Novi decided to start a small group called “Salingsih” (Sadar Lingkungan Bersih or Aware of a Clean Environment) in her own neighborhood.
When Novi and her small team of enthusiasts solved one problem — how to teach young people to collect and separate waste — another problem emerged: where to put the waste?
JP/Lea Jellinek
When they found a place to store it, there was another problem: Who was to pick up the waste and cart it away to recyclers? Each solved problem gave rise to a new problem.
Novi had struggles with her family when she began to store rubbish in the guest room of her home. Her mother was not impressed and her husband resented Novi spending so much time handling dirty, stinking waste — and then storing it in the front room of their home! Their house did not have a toilet and yet Novi was storing rubbish there – her husband was embarrassed and annoyed.
To make matters worse, Novi quit her sales promotion job so that she could focus on her waste recycling and handicraft business. The whole family thought she had gone crazy. “Seperti pemulung saja” (just like a scavenger) said her husband.
“When I tried to speak to my husband, he was silent,” says Novi. Laughing, Novi recalls, “He refused to sleep with me for a week! When we watched TV … I tried to approach him but he ignored me and then went off somewhere.”
In spite of this hostility, Novi persisted in teaching neighbors and particularly children how to collect waste and make handicrafts. Without financial assistance, she and her five friends decided to take turns pawning their motorcycles for three months each so that they could raise the necessary funds, Rp 4,000,000 (US$468), for their enterprise.
In 2009, Novi was asked by the city administration to become a motivator to promote waste management and handicraft-making in villages throughout the city. Novi was also invited by NGO Lestari, BLH city of Yogyakarta and Gadjah Madah University (UGM) to become a guest speaker.
After one of her first presentations, Novi came home with a sealed envelope. Her husband opened it and found Rp 200,000 inside with an UGM receipt. He exclaimed, “By just talking about waste you can get money! I want to do it too!” (When Novi received money for her presentations, it was shared with her waste management group.)
From that day onwards, Novi’s husband’s attitude changed and he began to respect and support his wife. He began to see that she was on to something important and this was confirmed when some well-known personalities started to seek out Novi in their simple home.
Novi was visited by TV and radio celebrities like Iswanto (the main pioneer of Sukunan’s Waste Management Program where waste was separated at the household level for the first time in Indonesia), Bambang Suwerda (the main initiator of Bank Sampah) and Junaidi (chairman of Jejaring Sampah Yogyakarta and Jejaring Sampah Bantul). Members of the community were amazed and proud that Novi was hosting such important visitors and word spread through the pathways of the kampung “celebrities are here”.
Novi’s husband showed his support by setting up a display of the recycled products she and her group were making. He also bought her a motorcycle. Before this she had relied on lifts from her husband to take her from place to place. Now he recognized her need for independence and her need to travel alone.
With assistance from Iswanto, Bambang and Junaidi, and supported by the Yogyakarta network called “Jari polah” (moving finger), Novi set up a children’s Waste Bank consisting of 30 households.
Children have their own bank books and eagerly arrive to weigh their waste. It’s only supposed to be weighed on Thursdays and Saturdays but if the children see Novi is at home, they come at any time.
Novi no longer needs to store the waste in her home because Lestari (an NGO that focuses on teaching villagers to make handicrafts from waste) helped find a donation of Rp 2,000,000 to build a storage depot across the way from Novi’s home.
Novi complained to the mayor’s wife that people are being advised to separate their waste by the Yogyakarta city government only to find that the city trucks from the Department of Public Works mix the rubbish together again.
“How futile and what a waste of peoples’ time,” says Novi. The mayor’s wife has taken Novi’s criticisms seriously and personally organized a special waste collector (pelapak) to pick up and pay for separated waste.
The Yogyakarta city administration is trying its best with regard to waste management. It has delivered equipment to most communities in the city who are starting to look after their waste. Since 2010, Yogyakarta has a new slogan “Orang yang beradab menaruh dan memilah sampah pada tempatnya” (wise, civilized people separate their waste). Big placards with the slogan and pictures similar to those first made in Sukunan in 2004 have been placed in strategic and famous locations around Yogyakarta.
