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Resolving trash problems needs mindset change: Expert
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Managing waste: An aerial picture taken on Aug.31 shows a landfill in Kemayoran, North Jakarta. Monitoring app Qlue records that in the January-May period, the Jakarta administration received 27,404 reports on sanitation and waste issues that had not been handled well. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)
T
he co-founder of an experimental program called Kota Tanpa Sampah, or City Without Trash, Wilma Chrysanti, has said that people must first change their mindset toward cleanliness in order to combat the city's waste problems.
She said people sometimes forgot that when their trash had been taken away from their houses, what actually happened was that the trash was simply moved to a dump, which created another problem as waste continued to accumulate.
“We need to be aware that everything we consume produces waste, so we have to minimize unnecessary waste production,” Wilma told a discussion in Jakarta on Sunday.
Wilma and her husband Ignatius Susiadi Wibowo co-founded LabTanya, an architectural consultancy firm that runs Kota Tanpa Sampah, which aims to encourage households in Bintaro, South Tangerang, to reduce their daily waste by monitoring their way of life and shopping habits.
“For example, we can buy food using our own bags to reduce plastic waste,” said Wilma.
She claimed that 14 days after the implementation of the program, LabTanya had managed to reduce the production of waste by up to 95 percent.
Wilma admitted that changing people’s mindset was hard, and that it must start by example. "We have to understand that we are part of the problem,” she said. (dis/ebf)
