Processing Waste, Empowering People

KOMPAS/WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

Cocos Trisada

Uncontrolled growth of water hyacinths can stagnate the flow of rivers and contribute to flooding. While broom makers usually discard or burn coconut fiber waste, in the hands of Cocos Trisada, 52, the waste material is processed into something productive that helps empower others.

With his business and experience in designing handicraft, Cocos explores and develops the typical handicraft potential of Banyumas, Central Java. Cocos wants Banyumas to be known not only as the City of Mendoan (thinly sliced tempeh coated in rice flour and fried lightly), but also for its diverse and high-quality handicrafts, ranging from embroidery to handcrafted items made from natural materials.

I’m thinking of how to utilize waste materials to make money.

Water hyacinths, an invasive species, are mostly used as duck feed and can disrupt a river ecosystem if they are allowed to grow unchecked. But Cocos uses the fibrous plant to produce sandals with economic value.

“I’m thinking of how to utilize waste materials to make money,” said Cocos, who has also thought about using banana tree bark to make handicrafts.

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To extract the fiber from water hyacinths, the plants are sun-dried for seven days until they are dry and then woven into sandals.

“A pair of sandals needs about 80 water hyacinth stalks [to make],” Cocos said during a visit to Rumah BUMN Purwokerto (Purwokerto State-Owned Enterprises House) on 23 Dec. 2020.

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Cocos has previously produced sandals made from coconut fiber waste, also called coconut coir waste, obtained from broom makers. The unused fiber is usually burned or simply thrown away.

KOMPAS/WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

Cocos Trisada

The sandals Cocos makes come in two types: one for hotel use and the other for home use. “Coconut fiber waste is mixed with glue to produce sheets. These sheets are then cut into patterns and sewn into sandals,” he explained.

Instead of marketing the handicraft products just for his own profit, Cocos shares his knowledge. He has imparted his idea to 25 broom makers in seven villages in Banyumas. Priced at between Rp 29,000 and Rp 55,000 per pair, the sandals are sold to hotels in Jakarta, Bandung and Balikpapan.

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Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when people were increasingly turning to growing ornamental plants as a hobby, Cocos used the coconut fiber waste to make flowerpots. Using wire or coarse fabric for the frame, he creates the pots in a variety of shapes, including circular and heart-shaped pots.

One of the partners he mentors is Jawahir, who is also chairman of the Berkat Usaha Coconut Fiber Craftsmen’s Group in Sibalung village, Kemranjen district.

Jawahir enthusiastically welcomed Cocos’s idea to turn the coconut fiber waste into flowerpots. Jawahir said that Sibalung village was home to 80 fiber broom makers who needed around 5,000 coconut fibers each day to produce 2,000 brooms.

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“Before, the coconut fibers left after making the brooms were simply burned, but now they are being turn into pots worth Rp 10,000 each,” he said.

Istiqomah, who chairs the Department of Economics and Development Studies (IESP) at the economics and business faculty of Jenderal Soedirman University in Purwokerto, has lauded Cocos’s efforts to reuse and repurpose different kinds of waste into handicrafts.

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“He is brilliant. Although he studied accountancy, his creativity is wonderful. Scrap lumber that used to be burned before can be turned into café tables and chairs,” said Istiqomah, who mentors micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

KOMPAS/WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

Cocos Trisada

‘Sulam Ngapak’

When he moved from Depok, West Java, to Banyumas in 2016, Cocos started by introducing his method of using repurposed waste materials in making the indigenous embroidery of Banyumas, called Sulam Ngapak. Working with the Central Java Cooperatives and SMEs Office, Cocos trained around 150 people from 10 villages in 2017-2019. He has been working in handmade embroidery since he lived in Depok.

Cocos’s technique for crafting Sulam Ngapak involves five elements: the thread, paillettes, tape, raffia ribbon and scrap fabric. He uses the embroidery technique to create different motifs, such as flowers and birds. The embroidery products using his technique have even been exported to several countries.

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While developing his embroidery technique, Cocos started exploring the potential of bamboo in Banyumas in 2018. With the support of the Banyumas Industry and Trade Office, Cocos trained 25 people from five villages with an abundance of bamboo in crafting environmentally friendly laundry baskets and drinking straws made from bamboo.

“The bamboo straws were once shipped to Germany in one container, or 10,000 straws. Another shipment was scheduled for this year, but it was canceled because of the pandemic,” said Cocos.

In addition to exporting the straws to Germany, the bamboo straws made by Banyumas craftspeople are also sold to hotels and restaurants in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali and Balikpapan. The craftspeople can produce up to 100,000 bamboo straws each month.

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“The straws cost Rp 700 each. They are delivered to other cities every three to four months,” said Cocos.

He said that training and mentoring of craftspeople could succeed if it employed a personal and sustainable approach that continued from training all the way through to marketing the products.

Cocos believes that the bountiful natural wealth of Banyumas has the potential to be turned into products to complement the regency’s tourism and culinary industry.

Cocos Trisada

Born: Jakarta, 1 Oct. 1968

Wife: Ira Damayanti, 43

Education:

- Bachelor of economics, Institute of Economic Science (YAI), Jakarta (1991)

Activities:

- Chairman, Banyumas National Entrepreneurship Movement

- Chairman, Banyumas Bamboo Cluster

- General Chairman, Banyumas Coconut Fiber Craftsmen’s Association

- General Chairman, Banyumas Water Hyacinth Craftsmen’s Association

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.