Depok, 23 November 2024 – In an effort to increase awareness of the importance of keeping the environment clean and preserving nature, students throughout Indonesia who are members of the scholarship recipient community from the Karya Salemba Empat Foundation held an event entitled "Gebyar Caring for Plastic Waste: Education and Training for Plastic Recycling to Become Ecobricks”. This event took place simultaneously on Saturday, November 23 2024 in 35 locations throughout Indonesia, attended by more than 6,000 participants from various circles, including students, students, teachers and the environmental community as a real form of dedication to the country.
This event aims to provide understanding to the public, especially elementary school students, about the importance of disposing of waste in the right place and how to process plastic waste into ecobricks, a creative, environmentally friendly solution. Ecobricks are a method of filling used plastic bottles with non-organic waste, so that they can be used as alternative decoration, furniture and building materials.
"We want to encourage changes in the mindset and habits of elementary school children, so that they care more about environmental cleanliness and are able to process plastic waste into something useful," said Rendi Seftian, Donor Relations of the Karya Salemba Empat Foundation.
Series of Activities: Education and Training
Activities started one month ago in the form of educational sessions guided by students. The material presented includes the negative impact of plastic waste on the environment and the importance of building the habit of disposing of waste in its proper place. After that, the students gave elementary school students a challenge to collect plastic bottles and packaging waste for 3 weeks.
The students enthusiastically carried out environmental clean-up actions at school and at home. The highlight of the event was training in making ecobricks. In this session, participants were taught practical steps to process plastic waste into ecobricks, starting from sorting plastic, cleaning plastic waste, compacting it into used bottles, to how to ensure ecobricks are of good quality.
"This activity will raise awareness of protecting the environment, keeping schools clean, and also increasing children's creativity," said Mulyati, Principal of Cinangka 02 State Elementary School, Depok.
More than 10,000 ecobrick bottles were successfully made from this activity. The bottles will then be created into objects that can be used such as decorations, benches, tables, gates, and so on. KSE scholarship recipient students together with various communities collaborated with elementary school students in making ecobrick creations at the peak event of the ecobrick celebration which was held simultaneously on Saturday, November 23 2024.
The event, which is centered at SDN Cinangka 02, is connected to 34 other locations online via Zoom and also YouTube. This activity was also attended by Bank Indonesia as a collaboration partner who has the same vision and goals as the KSE Foundation in an effort to provide education to the public in the environmental sector. On this occasion, Bank Indonesia provided education regarding "Love Proudly Understand the Rupiah" to participants, especially elementary school children.
“Loving Indonesia can be done in various ways. "Aside from protecting the environment by making ecobricks, children must also protect the future and prosperity of the nation by loving and being proud of the Indonesian currency," said a message from the Bank Indonesia Communications Department.
Bank Indonesia also provided cleaning equipment to schools that were partners in this activity. This effort is to support schools in continuing education and good habits in maintaining school cleanliness.
One thing that is special at SDN Cinangka 02, Bank Indonesia and KSE scholarship recipient students created smart trash can technology that can open trash cans automatically according to organic and inorganic waste. The goal is for elementary school students to learn to sort waste using this trash can technology.
Continuous Commitment
As a follow-up to this activity, students together with the local community will continue to provide education to other schools and also connect schools with nearby waste banks. This initiative is expected to reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in landfills and increase public awareness.
Through this activity, the KSE scholarship recipient students hope to inspire more people to take small but meaningful steps for environmental sustainability.
