ENCOURAGING SUSTAINABILITY IN AN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT, VOCATIONAL UI ESTABLISHES COLLABORATION WITH PLASTICPAY AND BANK SYARIAH INDONESIA
Vocational Education Program, Universitas Indonesia (UI) has just realized a collaboration with PT Plasticpay Teknologi Daurulang (Plasticpay) and Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) to support plastic waste management. The program was launched in conjunction with a workshop entitled “Circular Economy through Plastic Waste Processing as Climate Change Mitigation”, which was held at the Auditorium of the Vocational Education Program UI, on Monday (6/3). CEO of PT Plasticpay Teknologi Daurulang Suhendra Setiadi, and VP Retail Deposit & Payroll Solution Group of PT BSI Lucky Afriansyah also attended as the speakers.
Director of the Vocational Education Program UI Padang Wicaksono, S.E., Ph.D. said that the collaboration program carried out between Vocational UI with Plasticpay and BSI is a form of global sustainability support through the management of plastic waste. He said, “As a form of effort to encourage UI to become a green campus, we invite Vocational UI academics to consciously participate in plastic waste management.”
During this activity, a symbolic presentation of Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) Plasticpay was also conducted, which later will be placed in the Vocational UI canteen. The RVM is one of the works of the Indonesian people which was produced in collaboration between Plasticpay and BSI. The machine can process plastic bottle waste which will then be exchanged into points automatically.
On the same occasion, Suhendra delivered an explanation of the circular economy through plastic waste management. “Indonesia is a country that produces the second largest plastic waste in the world with a record of as many as 6.8 million plastic waste per year. Yet, we are still importing plastic waste,” he said.
This prompted Plasticpay to create a solution in the form of a digital-based social behavioral modification platform that encourages people to exchange plastic waste for points that can be converted. “We also provide applications and collection facilities for the community, public sector, and private sector which invite all elements of society to collaborate in recycling,” said Suhendra.
Plasticpay creates a variety of products from waste collected through RVM which are spread out across Jabodetabek. These products are produced by women’s empowerment organizations and SMEs with disabilities and are certified by the Global Recycled Standard & Ocean Bound Plastic Certification. Within the UI environment, the Vocational Education Program became a pioneer in inviting academics to be aware of and care about processing plastic bottle waste through the effort of providing RVM.
Lucky also delivered material on the importance of digital financial literacy. He said, “Currently, the millennial generation can do activities easier thanks to the increasingly sophisticated technology. Now, banking transactions can be done on mobile, which makes it easier for customers and prospective customers. BSI also follows technological developments with various applications that can be used anytime and anywhere.”
In addition, BSI supports government programs to reduce waste by 70% by 2025 through the collaboration with Plasticpay in running RVM. Products produced from plastic bottle waste that are exchanged through RVM also vary, such as tote bags, pouches, laptop bags, prayer mats, sandals, and shoes. All of these products are produced from 100% plastic waste.
“We hope that this collaboration program in the form of RVM can be expanded within UI so that UI academics, especially students, can participate in reducing carbon emissions through processing plastic waste,” said Padang.
Author: Public Relations of Vocational UI | Editor: Sasa
