National Waste Awareness Day 2021: Bekasi City Government Together with Waste4Change Invites People to Manage Waste Wisely
As part of the National Waste Awareness Day, The Bekasi City Government through the Bekasi City Environmental Service held an environmental-themed event called Tumbuh Untuk Masa Depan (Grow for the Future). This event was held on the National Waste Awareness Day on Sunday, February 21, 2021. The Bekasi City Government also collaborated with Waste4Change and environmental advocates in this event.
Taking place at Pasar Alam, Vida Bekasi, this event was opened with a speech given by the Vice Mayor of Bekasi, Dr. H. Tri Ardhianto. Before entering the main event, a video screening of the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) maggot cultivation was also shown to the audience. This video screening was aimed to introduce the use of Black Soldier Fly maggot as a solution for reducing organic waste.
The main event began with a public dialogue, discussing the waste issues. This interactive discussion was presented by three speakers who were competent in their fields, namely, Dr. H. Tri Ardhianto as Deputy Mayor of Bekasi, Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano as Founder and Managing Director of Waste4Change, and Dr. Sony Teguh Trilaksono, Med., MBA as an advocate and observer of the environmental protection. In this public dialogue, the speakers were mainly discussing the latest waste issues, especially those that occurred in Bekasi City. This was also based on the consideration that Bekasi City waste production has reached up to 1,900 tons per day.
The Winner Announcement of the Tiktok Video Competition and the Photography Competition
In order to gain the public’s participation, a Tik Tok video competition with a topic of Sorting Waste from Home and a photography competition on Bekasi Waste Issue had been launched by the Bekasi City Government. . The winners of both of the competitions were also announced at the National Waste Awareness Day event at Pasar Alam.
In addition to the presence of the Mayor of Bekasi, the event was also attended by the Managing Director of Waste4Change and many other environmental protection advocates. This event also invited communities, such as Sahabat Sampah and Bank Sampah. Members from Sahabat Sampah community held a fashion show, exhibiting clothes made from recycled waste.
The Bank Sampah community also held a display of the upcycling and recycling products. The fashion show and the recycling products exhibition have successfully caught the audience’s attention.
The Formal Announcement of Bekasi City’s Used Cooking Oil Recycling Program
The National Waste Awareness Day’s commemoration at Pasar Alam Bekasi was concluded by the formal announcement of Bekasi City’s Used Cooking Oil Recycling Program. As a sign of the start of the program, the Mayor of Bekasi City and the Managing Director of Waste4Change posed in front of the back load of a truck full of used cooking oil containers. This collaboration between the Bekasi City Government and Waste4Change is also supported by Bank Sampah Induk Patriot (BSIP) Bekasi.
The Bekasi residents’ used cooking oil had been collected earlier by Bank Sampah Induk Patriot (BSIP) Bekasi and was sent to Waste4Change. The collected used cooking oil will then be transported to the biofuel company in Europefor further processing. This program is expected to run sustainably to provide a better used cooking oil management for Bekasi residents.
Hopefully, this program will be able to remind Bekasi residents about the importance of used cooking oil waste management. Used cooking oil was not supposed to be thrown into water sewage, drainage, or even soil. If processed wisely, used cooking oil can be used as the basic material of biodiesel.
Despite the restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemics, the enthusiasm of the audience regarding this event was quite high. Everyone was asked to obey the health protocol during the event. The National Waste Awareness Day’s commemoration was held in order to raise the awareness and to encourage public to sort and manage waste wisely
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