Recycled paper salvages street children's hopes

Recycled paper salvages street children's hopes

By Tjahjono Ep and A. Wisnuhardana

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Street children's life is tough indeed. They must struggle to survive every single day. Very often, they have to play cat and mouse with the police who view them as criminals.

It was this sort of life that Dodo, 18, lived for four years until he found employment. Now Dodo and several other ex-street kids do not have to rely on people on the street to survive.

Under the guidance of Harso, 29, and Sandy Sanjaya, 27, two Gadjah Mada University students, the children started a business in 1997. They recycle paper and turn it into greeting cards, note pads, photograph and painting frames and souvenirs.

Harso and Sandy were inspired by a 1997 exhibition of recycled paper products organized by Syantikara, a Catholic dormitory for female students in Yogyakarta. The children underwent intensive training at Street Children University in Ploso village, Sleman, just north of Yogyakarta.

Harso said the efforts to help street children actually began in 1992, when eight of them were recruited to make and sell ice cream. The project was not successful. They were then trained in a home industry, making bronze bracelets and leather goods. Again, the venture ended in failure.

Harso said the failures were understandable because the children had no entrepreneurial spirit and marketing skills.

"Doing business often bored them. They found it hard to resist the temptation of going back to the street and becoming street singers and so forth. They liked it better because working on the streets does not require skill and hard work," he said.

This bitter fact led him to the conclusion that continuity of production and good marketing strategy was vital. The children had to be convinced that doing business was better than living on the street.

So Harso and Sandy decided to rent a house in Pakem village, about 18 kilometers north of Yogyakarta to base their activity.

The children were trained how to produce high quality goods. They were taught discipline, waking up at 8 a.m. to start work at 10 a.m. Initially, this was something extremely hard to do because the children were used to hitting the street late in the morning.

Then the working conditions were adjusted to the needs of street children: working to blaring music with everybody allowed to smoke when they liked.

"Otherwise, no one was willing to work," recalled Sandy, a student of geophysics.

Harso and Sandy explored ways to make the products competitive. They learned about similar products from Bandung and Jakarta.

"Products from Bandung are better designed, but in terms of uniqueness, ours are better," Sandy said.

The business is growing. To cope with the rising demand they established a venture called Semesta Recycling.

The equipment they use for recycling used paper consists of screens, guillotines and a pulp machine.

Most of the used paper is obtained free of charge from campuses and individuals. About 30 percent of the used paper is bought from other street children.

Using appropriate technology, the production process is relatively simple. Two kilograms of scrap paper is soaked in water, without chemical substances, for a day. Then the paper is turned into pulp using a blender (the one usually used to make fruit juice). The pulp is next screened. To obtain the desired paper sheets, foam is spread on the screen containing the pulp. The paper sheets on the foam are then taken off and dried.

Formerly, eight people -- seven street children and one local resident -- worked at the "production house" as they like to call the venture. Now there are only five, after three quit to start their own paper recycling business or work for another company.

"Our target is to provide employment for all street children," said Harso. "They have to be provided with skills so that they can be productive."

Each of the five people now working with Semesta Recycling earns between Rp 6,000 and Rp 7,000 per day. Their products cost between Rp 800 and Rp 30,000.

"Shops that sell our products rake in more profits than we do," said Sandy. "An upscale hotel in Yogyakarta gains a profit of up to Rp 3,500 a piece, while Semesta Recycling only makes between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000."

Sandy said Semesta Recycling is yet to improve the design component to be more competitive.

Street children at the venture said they hoped people buy their products because of the quality of the goods, rather than because people feel sorry for them.

"We don't need empathy," said an employee, Dewo. "Look at the quality of our products."

Semesta Recycling products have reached other cities including Bandung, Jakarta and Semarang. Some transactions occur at its e- mail address -- sandy_sj@hotmail.com.

"We are busy finding a place in town where we can display our products so that they are known to a wider public," Harso said.

Semesta Recycling has boosted its production volume and took part in a Singapore expo earlier this year.

"Increasing (our volume) and exporting products overseas will need a lot of capital, but we will do it," Sandy said.

In the rented humble house that also serves as their workshop, the street children are reorganizing their life. Their efforts are showing signs of success.