Our waste equals 7,000 elephants?

JAKARTA (JP): Come to a display on trash and find out how daily waste in the city amounts to the weight of 6,955 elephants.

Your discarded plastic bags, organizers of the display at Ciputra Mall add, can cover 2,600 soccer fields every day.

The event, from July 17 to 21, will include discussions, a demonstration on paper recycling and how to make compost out of organic waste. The latter makes up 70 percent of waste, organizers say.

The organizer is the local branch of The Body Shop, an international cosmetics chain first set up in England. Supporters of the display include environmental groups such as Walhi, the Indonesian Forum for Environment, Radio Female and Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara.

Visitors can also register to go on a field trip on July 20 to a compost-making site and a plastic recycling center.

Minister for Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja is scheduled to open the event with the theme 'Act Now to Save Your Environment'. (anr)