The problem of plastic waste in Tanah Air is a serious thing that affects the environment, society health to the sustainability of the ecosystem, and becomes a large issue that impacts the future generation life.
According to the data of the National Waste Management System Ministry of Environment and Forestry there are 69 million tons of wastes generated by the Indonesian community along 2022 with 18.2 percent or 12.5 million tons is plastic waste, and not a little of millions of tons of plastic wastes ended up stacking so and continues to increase every year.
Seeing the problem, Matori (49) citizens of the village of Balloongan, the District of Balloongan, Indramayu seeks andil in the efforts of trash handling in the region of residence. Since 2019 Mamat calls Akrab Matori instilled the establishment of the Regional Group of the Garbage Recycling Manager (Wiralodra) that focuses on processing waste that they collect from citizens to be used as cultivation feed of maggot and sell plastic waste to the collectors present in the next village.
Members of Wiralodra group wear gloves when collecting household garbage in the settlement of citizens in Balloongan, Indramayu, West Java.
Application of information that shows the types of plastic waste that can be processed in Wiralodra Workshop, in Balloongan, Indramayu.
Over time, Momt brought Wiralodra Group collaborated with the Istimewa Friends community and began to focus on processing plastic waste. Together with the community, Mamat studied various types of plastic waste that can be utilized to be processed into a wide variety of crafts, so they managed to make a tool for cooking plastic trash processed into a plaque and a laku for sale.
HDPE and PET plastic waste types such as bottle caps, used helmets, used buckets will usually be melted and printed into plastic board sheets that produce abstract colorful motifs and will be more valued when processed into crafts.
The processing process of crafts from plastic trash usually starts from separating the type of garbage, color and size, after the garbage is sorted, then it is reserved using a small sized shredding machine so that in cooking process will be easier to melt.
Anggota group Wiralodra sorted plastic trash types before cooked into craft raw materials in Balloongan,
The Wiralodra group figures show plastic trash cacahan before cooked into craft raw materials in Balloongan, Indramayu, West Java.
After that the result of plastic waste caffeation is cooked using a fuel stove of waste oil from households, as well as cooking dodol, plastic waste caffeation is cooked and continues to stir more about 2 hours to produce dough with good quality.
The dough will be printed into the molding machine (molding) to freeze and produce plastic processing sheets with abstract color and ready to be used for craft making base materials.
With the Istimewa Friends Community, the mold is processed and designed to be a craft work like, plakat, tables, wipes and wall hours. Crafts like plakat and wall clocks are usually sold at Rp300 thousand to Rp600 thousand depending on the motives and sizes, while for tables and chairs are usually sold at Rp1.5 million to Rp 2.5 also per set with an average order amount of 20 to 50 per month.
Anggota group Wiralodra cooking plastic waste cacahan for craft materials with oil-fired stoves in Balloongan, Indramayu, West Java, Wednesday (26/6/2024).
Members of the Wiralodra group score plastic trash dough for craft materials with oil-fired stoves in Balloongan, Indramayu.
From the sales of processed crafts made by plastic waste that Mamat is able to intake profits up to tens of million rupiahs. In a month Mamat is able to process plastic waste as much as 200 kilograms to 500 kilograms of PET and HDPE type plastic waste, the plastic waste that can not be utilized for crafts such as PVC and LDPE types and plastic rashes are still sold to collectors.
Together with his group, Mamat hopes that his efforts can reduce the pollution of plastic waste as well as can be the inclusive space for the community to encourage public awareness to properly manage waste and can reduce environmental pollution.
Photos and text : Dedhez Fencinga
Anggota group Wiralodra check the quality of craft products from plastic waste materials in Balloongan.
Anggota group Wiralodra processing plastic waste mold for crafts in Balloongan, Indramayu, West Java.
Author : Fanny Octavianus
Photo collage a wide range of crafts from plastic waste processing such as plakat, tissue, chair table and name board of Wiralodra group works on Balloongan, Indramayu.
Mamat (mid) and members of Wiralodra group posing showing one of the crafts results of plastic waste materials in Balloongan, Indramayu, West Java.
