GOOD COLLABORATION FOR A FUTURE WITHOUT PLASTIC WASTE
That morning a different atmosphere was seen at the head office of PT Bluebird, Tbk. The function room of the leading transportation company building was filled with a crowd of people. Their faces radiated enthusiasm to participate in a special event that day.
The participants did not come from far away. They were all employees of the oldest taxi company in the country. There was also a group of women who came on behalf of the Kartini Bluebird community. Kartini Bluebird is a community of wives of Bluebird taxi drivers. While waiting for the event to begin, they chatted with their colleagues and other guests.
The multifunctional room, which is usually empty of visitors, became a warm host. The workshop session on processing plastic waste was ready to be held. The equipment supporting this short training is neatly organized. The organizers passed around to make sure everything needed for the event had been fulfilled.
Some time ago, the WWF Indonesia Foundation collaborated with PT Bluebird Tbk to launch the Plastic Smart Cities program. The two organizations agreed to promote responsible and sustainable lifestyles to prevent single-use plastic waste that is not well managed in our country.
In this neat joint program, the institutions held an upcycling workshop. The event was made more serious by partnering with Rappo Indonesia as a resource person and trainer. They wanted to make a multi-purpose pouch with economic value. Of course, the raw material utilizes disposable plastic waste.
A total of 30 participants from the Kartini Bluebird community and Bluebird employees participated in the single-use plastic recycling training. This program collaboration certainly wants to spread the spirit of life without plastic waste in the future. Education about managing plastic waste into a useful product is the key.
Akmal Idrus, Founder and CEO of Rappo Indonesia, said that the current business focuses on selling processed plastic waste products that are different from other products. This is because it combines worthless plastic bag waste into products with unique models that carry the concept of recycle.
In the processing training process, each product requires 8 pieces of plastic bag waste, a conventional iron, ironing mat, zipper and thread for sewing. The trainers first practiced how to combine the collected plastic patterns or motifs using a conventional iron. After that, the existing patterns were sewn by the Kartini Bluebird community and Bluebird employees by combining other materials to obtain a more attractive product.
"Here I got a lesson to make a pouch from recycled plastic waste. With the recycling of plastic waste we can make various creations and later waste can be reduced as well," said Eva, a participant from the Kartini Bluebird community.
On the same occasion, the WWF Indonesia Foundation and PT Bluebird TBK also conducted socialization to company employees to be able to play an active role in reducing disposable plastic waste from the source. The management introduced the agent of change program. In this program, 1,500 taxi drivers become agents of change with the hope of inspiring and setting an example for other drivers and employees to reduce the use of single-use plastic packaging.
"Hopefully this collaboration can inspire other companies to make changes and encourage other business sectors to contribute to the reduction and handling of plastic waste," said Director of Climate & Market Transformation of WWF Indonesia Foundation, Irfan Bakhtiar.
In an effort to support the government to achieve the Indonesia Clean Waste 2025 target through reducing upstream waste by 30 percent, and handling waste by 70 percent by 2025, the WWF Indonesia Foundation and PT Bluebird Tbk have carried out an initiative to replace bottled mineral water with the use of reusable drinking bottles to 1,500 taxi drivers in the Jakarta area.
Chief Marketing Officer of PT Bluebird Tbk, Mediko Azwar stated, "Through this collaboration, Bluebird hopes to further increase the awareness of drivers and employees gradually to change their behavior, so that they can become individuals who encourage improvements in environmental quality, especially they can also be agents of change because they will serve many customers every day."
With this strong collaboration and high commitment, WWF-Indonesia and PT Bluebird Tbk hope that in the future there will be more parties who are aware of the importance of plastic waste management for environmental sustainability.