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Kampungs join pioneering waste-free program in Jakarta
In a city with an ingrained littering habit, urging people to bring their own shopping bags or basket for shopping will raise eyebrows
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In a city with an ingrained littering habit, urging people to bring their own shopping bags or basket for shopping will raise eyebrows.
But the residents of Kampung Muka in Ancol, North Jakarta, are familiar with such calls, which have motivated them to spread the habit. One such resident is Maonah, 47.
Speaking at a sharing session on Saturday at the unfinished community unit (RW) 04 office, Maonah said that she always brought her own basket with her when shopping for vegetables and other daily necessities from street vendors.
“At first, my neighbors thought the practice odd. But as time passed, they started to see it positively,” she told The Jakarta Post on Sept. 15.
Maonah added that she also saved money, since it helped her to stop buying packaged products.
“When I caught a cold, I made a cup of tea with [fresh] ginger instead of buying packaged medicine,” she said.
Another Kampung Muka resident, Asih Karsih, 57, told the Post that she had started to recycle plastic bottles by making ecobricks — reusable building blocks made from plastic bottles stuffed with used plastic bags.
Asih that she used the ecobricks as building materials and to make furniture, rather than buying modular furniture.
The sharing session in Kampung Muka is part of an experimental program called Kota Tanpa Sampah (city without trash) initiatied by LabTanya, a research and innovation pilot unit of Adhi Wiswakarma Dewantara design studio. The session itself was supported with crowdfunding from the Class of 1989 alumni of Pangudi Luhur junior high school.
“As part of our 30-year reunion, we wanted to contribute to bettering society. Hopefully, we can inspire other alumni communities to do the same,” Pangudi Luhur alumna Bernadette Nainggolan told the Post.
Kota Tanpa Sampah was launched in 2015 with an initial aim to encourage households in Bintaro, South Tangerang, to reduce their daily waste by monitoring individual lifestyles and shopping habits. The program has recently started reaching kampungs across Greater Jakarta.
Kota Tanpa Sampah first trains 15 women as "pioneers" through a seven-day challenge in sorting and recycling household waste, teaching them how to sort the waste according to several categories: organic (food waste), recyclables (plastic bottles, papers), e-waste, toxic and hazardous materials (like expired medicine) and residual or nonrecyclable waste (like used plastic wrap).
The organic waste is composted for use as fertilizer, while the recyclable waste is deposited at waste banks or given to trash collectors. E-waste and toxic/hazardous waste are collected by the city's environment agency, while the nonrecyclable waste is sent to the dump.
The program also trained the women in three eco-friendly strategies called the front door strategy, the middle door strategy and the back door strategy.
The front door strategy encourages people to minimize household waste, for example by using reusable tumblers instead of buying bottled mineral water.
The middle door strategy encourages people to fix and repair items instead of buying new ones, while the back door strategy encourages recycling.
“We expect these pioneers to become agents of change in their kampungs and inspire other families to recycle,” said the program’s cofounder, Wilma Chrysanti.
Kota Tanpa Sampah has been implemented in 20 RWs across Jakarta, with monitoring and assistance from the environment agency.
“Waste management programs should be initiated by the government," remarked Wilma. "We [believe] that public enthusiasm would likely be higher if the government recognized their efforts,” she added, calling for more government involvement in public education programs on household waste management.
Wilma said that despite the doubt many people had about recycling, Kota Tanpa Sampah had shown a significant reduction of up to 80 percent in household waste among the program pioneers' families. (trn)
