“We turn youngsters to agents of change by incorporating schools and creating a social media campaign,” said Ambar Pertiwiningrum, a speaker from Pilah.id. This lecturer from the Faculty of Animal Science UGM explained that by incorporating middle school and high school students in Yogyakarta as the changemaker, pilah.id aims to be able to reach a wider audience in environmental awareness, especially regarding waste. Next, the Pilah.id team will also create a guideline concerning waste management for young people.
Not limited to waste management only, hopefully this movement can create innovations on waste recycling. Rachmawan Budiarto, the Secretary of the Community Work Directory in UGM invites the participants to implement the circular economy concept. “Other than using waste to create a better environment, those actions can also create jobs and economical benefits,” said Rachmawan. According to Budiarto, the trending concept can be implemented in Indonesia, which is one of the biggest waste contributors in the world.
“The problem is, society’s motivation to gather and manage waste is not enough,” said Kuncoro Cahyo Aji, the Head of DLHK DIY. This is a pity when in fact, the government has created a location for a Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Waste Management Center. Kuncoro explained, this year the government will create a database containing info about the waste bank, the 3R waste management center, and society’s waste management system. Other than that the government is also creating an independent waste application to decrease household waste.
The effort to increase awareness and participation in waste management is also done by Daur Resik and PT. Pegadaian. Daur Resik has a local business and distributes waste to waste management centers. PT.Pegadaian also has a program where people can buy gold from their activity in the waste bank, so people will be motivated to gather and categorize waste. “Education on how to sort waste is the key here,” said Maria Sucianingsih from Daur Resik.