Several students of SMK Yapis Bogor City seemed busy making biopore holes in the parking lot in their school environment, Wednesday (26/10/2022). While several other students went around the school area carrying white sacks. Starting from the classroom area, mosque courtyard, canteen, toilets and others. Several others, conducted inspections of garbage on the banks of the Ciliwung river which is right on the edge of the school. The garbage they found in the inspection was then put into a sack.
Half an hour around the school area, the garbage they managed to pick up was then collected in front of the classroom which was transformed into the hall where the "PSC Goes to School" event was held. Three medium-sized buckets were lined up in front of the gathered students. Each bucket is written a garbage category. There are organic, inorganic and residual. After that, each student opened the contents of the sack and then put the garbage into the bucket according to the type. The organic waste they managed to collect was then put into the bioporous pit.
"This is the waste of the former coffee sachet. Means to get in the residual garbage!" said a student.
"If this is leaves and twigs. In organic waste!"
Before going around the school area and picking up trash, they gathered in the hall. The organizers of the event screened several short films on the theme of garbage, rivers and plastics. The students are also invited to discuss related to the problem of garbage around them. Previously, a similar event had also been held at the Daarul Uluum Islamic Boarding School, Bogor City some time ago.Hendi Septian, a class XII student majoring in office governance automation at SMK Yapis, said he was happy to participate in the event. He seemed to be excited about making bioporous holes. This is the first time he has done so."This event is very important. we learned about sorting and getting to know the types of waste," he said.
Hendi admitted that he was used to sorting dry and wet garbage in his house. Although he said, the facilities of the landfill at his school have not been separated. It is still mixed between organic and inorganic waste. He hopes that in the future the waste can be separated before being disposed of in the landfill.
"Now I know a lot more about organic, inorganic and residual waste. This kind of activity should be able to be carried out continuously. The problem is that there are still many who like to litter. Plastic waste is really a lot, it often accumulates. It's already so disturbing too because it's hard to decompose. The solution is recycled, reduced by bringing your own tumbler and feeding place. After I finish participating in this event, I will invite my friends to start sorting garbage as well," he said.
The principal of SMK Yapis Rohmah Komalawati appreciated the event. According to him, the educational event related to environmental conservation held at his school is not the first time it has been carried out. A few years ago even SMK Yapis once won first place in the Ciliwung river cleaning competition. Not only that, the school was also part of a tree planting program carried out along the banks of the Ciliwung river. It continues to be committed to continue to educate students to pay more attention to the surrounding environment. Especially with regard to handling plastic waste
"This event is very important in the framework of the waste education program in the education unit associated with the Ciliwung river. Because our school is on the banks of the Ciliwung river. Even when outsiders say Yapis, they say riverside foundation. Even though Yapis is the Islamic Education Foundation. Because our location is on the outskirts of the Ciliwung river," said the woman who is familiarly called Lala.
Lala hopes that the students who take part in the activity can become agents of change. Spread the knowledge gained to friends and the surrounding environment. So that it can have a better impact on cleanliness around the school environment."In order not to flood and the Ciliwung river is clean, we must protect the environment. We are open to cooperate with many parties in making this happen. It is also ready to support the success of the PSC program in Bogor City," he said.
Lala also said that the presence of PSC in Bogor City is expected to minimize the pile of waste in her school environment. Although he realizes that to make this happen, it requires slick collaboration from various parties.
"We can take care of the environment around us. We can even educate the people around us on how to sort waste. If not us who else? The hope is that this meeting can provide benefits for all of us. We will involve these students to be the campaign team for the PSC program. So we will continue this program," he said.
He also hopes that the PSC program run in his school can run continuously. So that his students can understand better about the importance of sorting waste and reducing plastic use.
"So that the waste in the school environment can be managed properly. We can even make the waste in our environment into economic value," he concluded.
WWF Indonesia activist Saipul Siagian said that the PSC is a global movement initiated by the institution where he is based. The goal is to drastically reduce plastic waste that is thrown into nature. In Indonesia, Bogor became the first city to declare a contribution to the success of the program. In the rainy city, the PSC cooperated with various parties. Among them are the Bogor City Government, the Ciliwung River Naturalization Task Force, the Rekor Nusantara Foundation and others.
"In the past, WWF worked more on wildlife and forest conservation issues. But now we are also focusing on tackling plastic waste because this also correlates with wildlife habitats. Because the impacts are all the way down to climate change. Every day we have unconsciously thrown out plastic waste and polluted the ocean," he said.
Saipul likens plastic waste thrown into the Ciliwung river. Although the location of the plastic waste dump is in Bogor City, it will be carried away by the river flow and cheapen into the ocean hundreds of kilometres away. The plastic waste then pollutes the oceans, until it becomes microplastic and is eaten by marine life. The case that had come to the fore, was founddead whales stranded on the beach. When the autopsy was carried out, in his body, a lot of plastic waste was found. This is what underlies WWF's participation in handling plastic waste.
"The students of SMK Yapis are a change agenda for better and smarter plastic management in the city of Bogor. We want to invite all parties, including students, to reduce the use of plastic. We all have a big responsibility to push the cities where we live to be smarter managers of plastic waste," he said.
He hopes that educational events related to waste sorting and reducing plastic use can continue to be carried out. Thus giving rise to a joint movement to reduce the backlog of plastic waste in nature.
"Hopefully we can get a lot from this discussion. That changing is easy, sorting it out is not difficult. So that we can have a good impact on the school environment and its surroundings," he concluded.
In addition to SMK Yapis, a similar event was also held at GOR Pajajaran, Bogor City. The plastic waste reduction education event involved a hundred students of Yapis Middle School. Performed attractively through various educational games and film screenings. This event involved WWF Indonesia's Panda mobile team.***
