Company trains scouts to treat waste
Company trains scouts to treat waste
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Boy scout instructors from several provinces were amazed by how
well students of State Junior High School No. 49 (SMP 49) in
Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, explained and demonstrated ways to
turn garbage into fertilizer or recycled paper.
"By pouring a bottle of this liquid to the garbage we can turn
it into fertilizer in a week. We can then use it for our plants,"
Agus Santosa, 14, a student who explained about how waste could
be recycled to boy scout instructors from several provinces. They
came to SMP 49 to attend a program on promoting waste treatment
among students.
The program, organized by the National Scouts Association
(Kwarnas Pramuka) and PT NEC Indonesia, aimed at familiarizing
students with the concepts of waste treatment.
Agus, a third-year student at SMP 49, said that although he
and his other scout friends had only attended a three-day
training course, they were already capable of processing almost
any kind of garbage into fertilizer or paper.
"We will turn all the garbage in our school into fertilizer
and use it for our plants. We hope we can have a clean and green
school. We will train our friends here in waste treatment," Agus
told The Jakarta Post after his presentation.
With Jakarta producing 6,000 tons of garbage daily, the city
is notorious for its poor waste treatment.
The city does not yet have a permanent dump site after local
residents closed the newly constructed Bojong Gede dump site in
Bogor, West Java.
The city is now disposing of its waste at the Bantargebang
dump site in Bekasi, West Java.
With Jakarta residents continuing to throw garbage into rivers
and gutters, the city experiences serious flooding almost every
year.
NEC president director Yasuyoshi Gando said that training
students how to treat garbage would help reduce the amount of
garbage circulating in the capital and thus reduce the
possibility of flood.
"This is our contribution to Indonesia, the country we are
living in. This is part of our community development program. We
believe that students will spread their knowledge to others in
their neighborhoods," he told the Post.
Gando said that his company would continue to monitor the
progress of the program in the school and planned to conduct a
similar program in other schools.
Parni Hadi of Kwarnas Pramuka, who also witnessed the
students' demonstration, said that the students were agents to
spread ideas to older people, including their parents, so that
correct waste treatment could be applied in the wider community.
"We have around 20 million scout members across the country.
If we can spread these waste treatment skills to them then we can
hope to have a better environment," he said.
Parni said that Kwarnas would continue to teach waste
treatment skills to more scout members in all provinces
throughout the country.