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From plastic waste to lovely handbags
Portrait of the artist: Junaedi (right) and his wife Rita were inspired to find a way to repurpose trash after they moved next to a trash dump
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span class="inline inline-center">Portrait of the artist: Junaedi (right) and his wife Rita were inspired to find a way to repurpose trash after they moved next to a trash dump.
While most people treat used plastic bags as rubbish, in the hands of Junaedi and Margaretha Rita, they can be turned into fetching handbags and various other products of economic value.
Despite their use of waste as material, the married couple makes diverse products that are not inferior in quality to those sold at supermarkets and fashion outlets. Using up-to-date designs and different colors, their merchandise doesn't look like trash.
'At first. I just recycled rather thick plastic containers by cutting and sewing them into bags, with the brands of the previous food packages still intact. Now such a model won't sell anymore,' Junaedi said.
'In 2003, such products were mostly for our own use. Later in 2008, we cut used plastic sheets into smaller pieces before they were joined together,' said Junaedi, who two years later abandoned both methods, as consumers were bored, and turned to a technique to get rid of any impression of recycing.
'Now we sort used plastic bags according to their colors and join them in double-layer pieces to be further pressed by ironing, thus producing plastic sheets of various sizes and colors. A square-meter sheet is made up of around 150 plastic bags,' said the former bank employee.
The sheets are cut, glued and sewn into various products, with thin fabric as their inner linings. And so, handbags, purses and other articles with attractive designs and colors are made. 'We make wallets, cell phone bags, bouquets and other items out of the remainders of cut-off sheets,' he added.
In the beginning, their products were collected as samples of what you could do with waste. When they were invited to the Waste Concern Day exhibition in 2011 at the Yogyakarta Cultural Center, their products were displayed.
'At the time we put out about 500 bags, dozens of purses and other recycled items on show. Within less than two hours, all our products were bought up by visitors. There of them later even made orders for a total of 300 pieces,' Junaedi said.
Since then, orders have been flowing in from not only Yogyakarta, but also nearly all parts of Indonesia, including such institutions as the environmental agencies of various provinces.
Last year, buyers even came from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. 'A buyer from Malaysia regularly orders 50 pieces a month,' said Margaretha Rita.
So far, hundreds of designs have been made, ranging from children's backpacks to women's bags. 'These backpacks and handbags are in high demand,' Rita said.
Although their promotion is only through displays and word of mouth, public interest is great. At every trade fair, they sell at least 600 bags. Several export requests can't yet be met due to the constraints of material supply, although about 100 waste banks in Bantul have provided the stuff needed.
'Exports have their targets. We find it hard to get the raw material. If an importer orders red or yellow handbags, for instance, we've got to secure used plastic containers of that color, which aren't always available. We're sometimes even overwhelmed by domestic orders alone,' Junaedi said.
Prices vary, depending on design and size. Handbags cost Rp 100,000 (US$8) to Rp 150,000, while purses and seminar kits cost from Rp 15,000 to Rp 35,000.
With about 50 workers, the couple lists a monthly turnover of Rp150 million from bags only.
Success doesn't prevent the parents of two from imparting their knowledge. Their house is open to anyone wishing to learn about plastic waste processing. They also invite housewives from other regions interested in learning their craft.
They received a Kalpataru Award for their pioneering work in 2012, while a group under his guidance won the Yogyakarta Green Clean Award and Kampungku Indah Ramah (My Beautiful and Friendly Village) award in 2007.
It all began in 1996. Several months after the couple occupied their new home at Taman Sedayu Bantul, they were troubled by a bad smell. Their house was close to a garbage dump. 'When residents burned plastic trash, the smell was very offensive,' Rita said.
As he couldn't stand the smell, Junaedi, as chairman of the neighborhood association (RT), tried to persuade local residents not to burn rubbish, but to sort them out for processing ' or for sale, if anything was worthy enough.
With limited knowledge of waste processing, Junaedi made an appeal that received an unpleasant response, which prompted him to give up his RT chairmanship and learn waste processing from many sources.
'After gaining some knowledge, I invited some neighbors to practice it by separating organic garbage from inorganic trash. Organic waste was turned into compost while used plastic and paper rubbish was processed into handicrafts,' he said.
Finally, residents joined him. Their efforts have made the housing complex greener and cleaner, with separate dustbins according to the types of waste and no more bad smell.
Local people are engaged in productive activity by processing plastic waste into diverse handicrafts as well as processing used paper into alternative fuel.
The village has drawn public attention and been visited by regents, mayors and the environment minister.
'Some residents have processed used newspapers and magazines into tables, chairs and baskets. One paper-based furniture set comprising a table and chairs was bought by [former Yogyakarta mayor] Heri Zudianto. The environment minister once also visited here to buy three handbags from us,' Junaedi said.
The awards and fortune are not the only achievement Junaedi is proud of. He said that he feel happy when he sees housewives and neighbors enthusiastically maintaining the environment and conducting waste processing activities.
' Photos by Singgir Kartana
