Most students not environmentally aware

Most students not environmentally aware

JAKARTA (JP): Most students are not well-informed on how to
help the environment despite their enthusiasm of joining the
ranks of the greenies.

In a one-day talk on environmental awareness on Saturday more
than 150 students representing 25 senior high schools in Jakarta,
Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi said available information on how to
practice environmental consciousness was lacking.

"We would like to use environmentally friendly products but
how do we know which ones don't contain pollutants?" a student
from the state-owned SMA 8 in Tebet, South Jakarta, told the
forum.

Dewi from SMA 81 in East Jakarta said she had no idea of which
kind of cleansing agent was harmless to the environment, though
some come with refill containers, as all she knows are various
kinds of detergents.

Another student said she was interested in recycling paper,
but thought the process might be too tedious.

"We're interested in doing something new, but we may quickly
get fed up," Asih from SMA 71 in East Jakarta told The Jakarta
Post.

The students were responding to panelists Zaim Saidi of the
Indonesian Consumers Foundation, and Widya Saraswati, an editor
at the Tiara magazine on lifestyles.

The event was held by the local committee of an international
association of science and business students based in Brussels,
AIESEC. The secretariat is based at the School of Economics at
the University of Indonesia.

Zaim said the government has yet to make producers list
necessary information on their products. "We are getting there,"
said Zaim, a member of the Indonesian Ecolabeling Foundation, the
ecolabeling working group for wood-based products.

A few other students expressed the opinion that the government
could do more, such as banning the use of leaded fuel which
contributes to air pollution.

Widya said students should do their best in supporting the
Ministry of Environment, which she said must face other
ministries with different priorities.

An example of recycling products was presented by Willy
Sidharta, the president of PT Aqua Golden Mississippi, a company
producing bottled drinking water.

He said the company's experience, which began in 1993, failed
to encourage consumers to return empty plastic bottles.

The company pays Rp 5 for the return of its 500 milliliter
bottles and Rp 10 for its 1,500 milliliter bottles.

"The value is too low and people are just not interested,"
Willy said.

"Luckily Indonesia has so many scavengers, we get most of our
bottles back from them," Willy told the Post.

So far Aqua has managed to recycle 30 percent of its bottles.

"We don't know how many more bottles are recycled by other
parties," he said. Not all bottles make their way to Aqua's
recycling factory in Citeureup, Bogor, he added.

The plastic bottles are grounded into polyethylene
terephthalate flakes and fiber. The final product can be used as
synthetic material for thread.

Other speakers were Sunoto who spoke for Surna T.
Djajadiningrat, an assistant to Minister of Environment Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja, and A. Salam H.S., the manager of urban
environment at the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi).
(anr)