Green Youths of the Millennial Generation
As other teenagers spend most of their time surfing online, a group of youngsters are fighting for a cleaner environment.
As other teenagers spend most of their time surfing online, a group of youngsters are fighting for a cleaner environment. Grouped under the Ecosongo community, their mission is a simple one: collecting trash at traditional markets.
Novia Rahmadani, 15, and more than a dozen of her friends sat in a circle on Wednesday (15/11) at SMAN 9 high school’s Ecosongo center in Surabaya, East Java. They were discussing their plans for a gerebek pasar (market visit) to Kapas Krampung market in Surabaya. The activity has been running since its launch in 2014.
Gerebek pasar is one of the main activities of Ecosongo, SMAN 9 Surabaya high school’s environmental group, in which Ecosongo members visit traditional markets in Surabaya and collect the trash scattered there. They do this without showing any signs of disgust. Their priority is collecting wet and decaying garbage.
According to Novia, Ecosongo also educates market traders to better maintain the market’s cleanliness. The traders are trained how to sort the garbage into organic and non-organic waste. “We often use the storytelling method with puppets to make it more attractive for the traders,” said the 10th grader.
Ecosongo founder Muhammad Abdel Rafi, 20, said that many of the traders ignored them in the beginning. However, the students persisted, as they believed their actions would benefit traders and buyers at traditional markets.
Ecosongo member Asyah Asmo Dara Suci, 16, said that they targeted local markets, as the markets were key to a city’s standard of cleanliness. If the markets were clean, other public places had to be cleaner, as markets commonly produced a lot of waste.
SMAN 9 Surabaya principal Mochamad Shadali appreciated the students’ enthusiasm in campaigning for a cleaner environment. He said the school supported Ecosongo by establishing it as a formal extracurricular activity. The school also provided funding and training to ensure the sustainability of gerebek pasar.
When it was set up in 2012, Ecosongo was just a group of students interested in environmentalism. They were entirely self-funded then. However, in 2017, the school finally included Ecosongo on its list of extracurricular activities. Its membership has grown from 20 to 30 students today.
Environmental campaigners
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said the political activity was a form of public participation in protecting the environment. The city administration encouraged students to campaign for the environment. Every year, the city holds the Surabaya Eco School competition to motivate environmental movements among the local schools. Hygiene competitions are held across all grades, from the first to the 12th grade, to foster the spirit of environmentalism in childhood.
“Although the authority over high school and vocational high school education resides at the provincial level, we will continue environmental awareness activities at the high school level. This is part of our character-building education,” said Surabaya education agency head Sukaryanto.
The private sector also appreciates the students’ spirit. Major car dealer PT Toyota-Astra Motor recently named Ecosongo as the winner of its Toyota Eco Youth competition, a competition that encourages dedication to environmental awareness among youth.
PT Toyota-Astra Motor (TAM) president director Yoshihiro Nakata said the company was committed to not only proper and healthy business development, but also awareness of environmental and social developments.
“Our social contribution programs in the spirit of Toyota Berbagi are implemented in corporate social responsibility activities comprising four pillars, namely Environment, Education, Safe Driving and Community Empowerment,” Nakata said.
The Toyota Berbagi program derives its name from Bersama Membangun Indonesia, or “building Indonesia together”, and is based on the concept of shared responsibility.
PT TAM vice president director Henry Tanoto said that youths had the creativity and the spirit of innovation necessary for starting movements. They could be agents of change that contribute to national development.
“We hope students can spread their environment-oriented mindset to those around them through their consistent and sustainable activities,” he said.
More than 5,000 activities at 1,300 schools have participated in the annual competition. This year, the company chose 10 high schools and vocational schools that fulfilled important roles in fostering an environment-oriented mindset among youths. These schools are: SMAN 9 Surabaya, SMAN 5 Surabaya, SMKN 10 Surabaya, SMAN 1 Yogyakarta, SMAN Labschool Rawamangun Jakarta, SMAN 19 Bandung, SMK PGRI Karawang, SMAN 1 Ubud, SMAN 6 Denpasar and SMAN 1 Blora.
Green mindset
As part of the company’s strong commitment to environmental preservation and encouraging the “green mindset”, especially among Indonesian youths, Toyota has established 32 Eco Galleries at schools across the country. Toyota Indonesia built the 32 Eco Galleries were in three stages and donated them to the schools as environmental learning facilities.
Henry said that these galleries served as integrated learning facilities supported by information technology. Each of the galleries comprises a meeting space, a multimedia room, a 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) display, a library and reading room and a music zone. It also has an internet connection.
The Toyota Eco Galleries are pilot facilities for high school environmental competitions. The galleries are established as a gesture of Toyota’s appreciation for the schools’ active participation and engagement in the Toyota Eco Youth program.
Since 2011, the Toyota Eco Galleries have been used as an environmental learning space that is open to schoolchildren and the general public.
These efforts to nurture a generation of youths with a green mindset have produced results. The Surabaya sanitation and green space agency’s data shows that public awareness on waste management has grown. This is also evident in the low volume of waste deposited at the Benowo landfill.
In 2016, Surabaya’s three million residents produced 2,913.18 tons of waste every day, of which only 1,500 tons were transported to Benowo landfill, and the remaining amount processed independently by residents.