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Uyus Setia Bhakti:  “My Love for Cisadane River is My Regret”

Discussing the problem of waste seems to have no end. Not to mention, when added to the garbage in the rivers and oceans. To overcome this, assistance from many parties is needed so that the river can again provide the benefits of its existence for humans. This is the reason, Uyus Setia Bhakti and friends are determined to create change. One of them is to restore the natural function of the Cisadane river which has long been piled up with garbage.

Build Bank Sampah Cisadane River (Banksasuci) Community

Love became the main reason for Uyus Setia Bhakti (41) to start exploring the material that is the source of human life: water.

Not just Uyus, his friend also felt the exact same fretfulness towards the quality decrease of the water in the Cisadane River. For this reason, together they created a community at the side of the river called Bank Sampah Cisadane River (Banksasuci). Uyus went through a series of processes to be able to bring this community into reality. Banksasuci which started off with only 15 thousand rupiahs is still operating strong and well until today and already succeeded in managing 24 waste generation points on the river bank area.

During the 80’s era, Cisadane River was still very clear, then it turned muddy due to the many industries that have sprung up around the river and residents who think the river is a free waste bin. According to Uyus, it is the people’s mindset that makes it difficult for Cisadane River to be waste-free. Not wanting his dreams to fade away, he uses a behavior change communication strategy in order to break down the old mindset and educate the public about waste.

Uyus’s journey to make the Cisadane River waste-free is quite complicated. Citizens’ criticism of the reprimands and rules created by Uyus raises pros and cons in society. He even received a death threat because residents felt that they had limited space in disposing of trash. 

The Waste4Change team had the opportunity to interview Uyus, as the founder and supervisor of Banksasuci. The interview was conducted on a boat that was ready to cross the Cisadane River to see the river’s condition and to smell the scent of the river more closely. Not only us, the other passengers that boarded the boat that day came from various backgrounds; activists on waste issues, administrators of Banksasuci, and common residents.

How important is Cisadane River for the local people? 

Cisadane River is very important, the source of life. If Cisadane River becomes dry, everyone screams in agony. Mosques are screaming, people are screaming, companies are screaming. As for the garbage itself, the garbage is mostly feces. Why are we always being taught (not to throw garbage into the river)? Do you know the parties who carelessly utilized the river until it became like this? The manufacturers.

How do you minimize plastic waste? It’s easy, increase the price of plastic to make it expensive, if the current price is 10 thousand (rupiahs), you can increase it to 300 thousand (rupiahs). Manufacturers must be thinking: are there any other ways for them (so they can get) to get economical raw materials? if the producer has reduced plastic, the plastic that polluted this river will also decrease. In 2020 we were supposed to be free of trash, but in fact, judging from the present-day condition, in 2021 we will still be colonized by garbage.

The main reason for creating Banksasuci?

I regret if I talk about it, because it is about love. I regret the fact that I am in love with Cisadane River.

 Why is it?

I regret why I didn’t fall in love sooner.

Why do we love the river? That is because a lot of people, not just Indonesians, but people from different countries as well, have the same say about “water is the source of life”. People can still live withoutgold, diamond, or money. But when there is no water, it is not only human, but all the living creatures will die.

But then there is a question about why the price of water compared to gold and diamonds is a lot cheaper, when water is the source of life, and why it seems as if all humans do not really care that much about water, only a small part of them do. Especially in Indonesia, there are a lot of rivers but most of them are being abandoned, there are vast oceans and abundant resources all over the country, but garbage, especially the plastic waste, is dominating right now. Those garbage in the sea came from the rivers that empties into the sea. 

When we don’t have love for rivers, it will create a mountain of garbage at the sea. Maybe if we started to fall in love with rivers sooner, if we handle the garbage, the problem that we face today might be easier. Yesterday, my activist friends asked me to go clean the sea, but we all know it is actually very hard. 

From that love that I have, I pioneered it as a vehicle for all stakeholders, be it observers, activists, and also the government. Let’s gather here, pour out all your thoughts, your work, your concern for rivers, water and air.

Why is the place located at the side of the river like this?

To bring the stakeholders, society, humans and their source of life closer. Several years ago, people saw the Cisadane River only from the (road near the river) on the top of a motorized vehicle or from a car. We deliberately open it like this so that there is no barrier between humans and their source of life. If there is a boat like this, they are close to the water and they can smell the water. We also invite them to observe the garbage which continues to enter the river.

This problem has occurred decades ago. Throwing garbage into the river has become a habit of the community, industry, and entrepreneurs.

So, can we help change their mindset and behavior? It’s not an easy job either. So our strategy is a behavior change communication strategy. We think a lot on how to change the behavior of the people who used to throw garbage into the river to not do that and to think that the river is a source of life that we should honor.

We used to only have 15 thousand rupiahs as a starter and thank God this community is still running. So through this way, we try to communicate behavior change with people who want to visit the Cisadane River through the Banksasuci.

How to do it?

Bring at least 2 kilos of used bottled mineral water to Banksasuci. Then you can hand it to the people there so that you can get in and ride a boat. You pay the ticket with trash.

So if the ticket is from the trash we bring, does the trash have to be specifically from the Cisadane River or not?

No, it can be from outside of Cisadane, even from your house. The purpose is that we want people to think that trash has an exchange value, then they can educate their children to sort waste and visit Banksasuci. The educational value is roughly there.

Can we enter if we pay with cash? 

That is actually not paying. There are some people that came here without bringing any trash, so they bought the trash first to enter Banksasuci.

We actually don’t want people to use cash, because the value is not that much when you monetize it, but it’s the educational value that is important. 

The hardest challenge in educating them? 

The hardest one is that their problem has become a habit of seeing trash as a disgusting thing. So, we as the agents of change need strategies and adjustments.

When we first cleaned the trash around here there were also many people who were angry, some brought machetes to protest. But in the end, they even asked us to make a trash can.We have to work extra hard, we have to educate too and we have to facilitate them by making trash cans.

There were people who fought back before, are there still people that are like that now?

Now there is no one like that, everyone is accepting us. We have succeeded in overcoming the 24 points of waste generation on the banks of the river, which are starting to change nearer to us, and are starting to disappear. The remnants are the ones that are far away.

What is the contribution of local government to Banksasuci?

Pemda (local government) can help when the activity is concrete, if it is not, they take time to consider. The good will from them is already an amazing support for us. Their presence in Banksasuci is already giving us energy.

What are the types of waste in the Cisadane River?

There are 98 types of waste in the Cisadane River. There are sofa, mattresses, pampers, contraceptives, sanitary napkins, plastic used packaging, styrofoam, cartons, medical waste, and others. However it is dominated by plastic waste, household baby and elder diapers. 

So how to resolve it?

Simplify. We tried to treat it as easy and chill as possible, we invited the others to explain that this problem is a simple problem, but we need to take action, not just talk.

         Our conversation with Uyus ended with the question of a solution to solve the garbage problem in the Cisadane River. After talking, we headed to the edge of the boat to see in more detail the conditions of the Cisadane River and the types of garbage that were inundated. Several residents on the riverbank waved to us and greeted us from a distance.

The boat took us to a place equipped with a hut, as if the place had been built as a dock for Banksasuci‘s boat. A plate of smoking hot fried bananas greeted the boat passengers when they arrived at the hut. Enjoying the afternoon breeze with fried banana made the moment perfect that afternoon.

Along the way down the Cisadane River we only saw 2 to 3 points of waste generation, however, the garbage that was inundated was quite a lot and was dominated by plastic waste. Just as Kang Uyus said, this river smelled fishy, ​​whether it is caused by the fish living in it or some other factors.

Our afternoon ended with the orange color of the setting sun as well as 2 rainbows that appeared in the sky as if saying goodbye. Thank you Cisadane and the Banksasuci Community, hopefully everyone will never get tired of loving Cisadane and educating the public to stay aware that trash is not “trash” until we deemed it unusable.

Read the Indonesian version in here

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