Tsamara Safira and Rahel Sriwahyuni Sinaga, students of the Public Relations Study Program, Vocational Education Program, Universitas Indonesia (UI), together with the South Jakarta Administrative City Government, and Plastic Pay held the “Cilife Eco Care” program, which was a socialization of waste management with the theme “Managing Your Waste, Saving the Sustainability of Life”. This program, which was the idea of the two UI students, has passed to the program implementation or Idea Validation stage in the 2023 Voice of Youth Challenge (VYC) competition.
At an event held at the Flamboyan Child-Friendly Integrated Public Space (RPTRA), Tebet, South Jakarta, Thursday (23/11/2023), Dropbox Plastic Pay was handed over as a facility for the community to implement waste management, especially plastic waste. The event was opened by Dyan Erlangga, Tebet District Head, and Puji Hastuti, Environmental Development Section, South Jakarta Administrative City Government.
Tsamara explained that this activity marked a concrete step in implementing the “Cilife Eco Care” program, a comprehensive project that aims to redefine waste management along the Ciliwung River for a sustainable future. “The Flamboyan RPTRA is a strategic event venue to involve the people of South Jakarta, especially the area crossed by the Ciliwung River. This event was held in response to the challenge of the 2023 Voice of Youth Challenge competition which encourages the implementation of campaign ideas for handling plastic waste,” said Tsamara.
Meanwhile, Rahel explained that the collaboration between UI Vocational students with Plastic Pay and the South Jakarta City Government was a pentahelix or multi-party collaborative effort in waste management. This activity was attended by communities in the Tebet District environment, from the PKK to the local Karang Taruna. Rahel added, “The problem of waste, especially plastic waste, needs to be resolved together. Therefore, collaboration like this is needed.”
The event was attended by more than 90 participants from Karang Taruna, PKK, Dasa Wisma, Jumantik and representatives from various sub-districts in Tebet District. On this occasion, the public was also given an explanation about the importance of waste management delivered by Andy Bahari, Leader of World Clean Up Day Indonesia.
Dyan said that Jakarta will become a Global City in 2024, thus knowledge and awareness about waste management is really needed by the community. “Global City is a city that serves every line of life in it. One of them is city cleanliness which can create a healthy society. I appreciate the enthusiasm of the students and all parties present here,” said Dyan.
The 2023 VYC Competition is an innovation competition program with the aim of generating ideas, program ideas, or campaigns that are innovative, creative and resourceful in solving problems, and building public awareness of the importance of a healthy and prosperous life and maintaining environmental sustainability. In holding this year’s VYC, Universitas Indonesia through the Center for Innovative and Governance (CIGO) Faculty of Administrative Sciences collaborated with DANONE to open opportunities for D3/D4/S1 students throughout Indonesia to participate in the competition through two competition categories, namely the health category with the theme ‘Hydration Conscious’ and the green environment category with the theme ‘Waste Management’. Tsamara and Rahel are included in the green environmental category.
Director of the UI Vocational Education Program, Padang Wicaksono, S.E., Ph.D, said that UI Vocational Program continues to strive to provide space and support students who are enthusiastic about carrying out the Three Principles of Higher Education, namely competing and doing community service. “UI Vocational Program has a mission to provide a real positive impact on society. Therefore, we really support various community service activities carried out by students and lecturers. Regarding waste management, UI Vocational Program has also implemented waste sorting and provided a Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) in collaboration with Plastic Pay in the Vocational Canteen area since 2022,” said Padang.
