Trash Hero Indonesia | Trash Hero World

Putting volunteers first

by Seema on 26/06/2019 1 comment

The latest round of Trash Hero Family Meetings drew to a close this week in Zurich, Switzerland. The city was one of two new European locations that hosted our regular team-building, training and networking event for volunteers – the other being in Prague, Czech Republic, earlier this month.

The new additions reflect the rapid growth of Trash Hero within Europe: there are now active chapters not only in Switzerland and the Czech Republic, but also in Serbia and Romania.

Trash Hero Switzerland Family Meeting in Zurich, June 2019

However, the season kicked off in April, back in Southeast Asia where the Trash Hero movement began. Trash Hero Malaysia and Singapore volunteers gathered in Kota Kinabalu from 25 – 27 April, followed by Trash Hero Indonesia teams on 2 – 4 May in Bali. Our Thai chapter leaders met in Khao Lak from 10 – 12 May, while Trash Hero Myanmar hosted their volunteers in Yangon, from 15 – 17 May.

The family meetings have become key engagements in our organisation’s calendar: as a diverse and dispersed network, they provide us with the vital time and space for immersive, face to face communication that helps to equip and motivate volunteers for the coming months. They are normally held twice a year: in April – May and October – November.

Trash Hero Indonesia volunteers clean up with a local school at their family meeting in Bali, May 2019

This time, alongside our usual activities, our chapter leaders learned how to carry out “brand audits” during their cleanups, recording the volume of the plastic packaging we regularly pick up, as well as the companies who manufacture it. The data collected over the coming year will be provided to our partner organisations, who can use it to push for systemic change in the production and disposal of single use plastic.

Members of the Break Free From Plastic coalition, who are driving corporate campaigns and global policy change, kindly joined us in Thailand to help with this important training, as we increasingly focus on connecting our communities’ experience of plastic pollution to the bigger picture.

The Break Free From Plastic team helped to train our Thai volunteers in Khao Lak, May 2019

Below are some video highlights from the recent events in Southeast Asia and Czech Republic, created entirely by the volunteers who attended them.

[Czech language only]

In total, 213 chapter leaders from 93 locations were able to join this series of family meetings – more than 90% of our global network. The total cost for all six meetings (the majority of which last 2 – 3 full days) was under $29,500, or around $138 per volunteer. This includes travel, accommodation and food for all participants, including the Trash Hero World team and external speakers. We are very grateful for the many hours of work donated in kind, as well as the monetary donations, that allow us to organise these events and continue investing in our volunteers and the amazing work they are doing around the world.

Sorting and separating in Tumapel

by Seema on 21/05/2019 No comments

Trash Hero Tumapel in Indonesia visits schools like this one, MI Roudlotul Jannah, to share the Trash Hero story and spread the word about how easy it is to reduce plastic waste.

Here, they also did a cleanup with the children around their village and they report the kids were super enthusiastic both when picking up the trash and then separating it to take to the local waste bank later. It certainly looks like it was a fun day. Great work everyone!

Bag yourself the new Tasini x Trash Hero turtle

by Seema on 05/02/2019 1 comment

We are delighted to launch the Trash Hero edition of #tasini and #inibags, as part of our ongoing Bottles & Bags programme. The bags are a collaboration with the social enterprise Making Oceans Plastic Free, with the idea of reusing plastic bottles to help reduce plastic bag waste.

The branded resuable shoppers come in two versions: in a plain yellow pouch (Inibag) or with a cute turtle pouch (Tasini), to promote awareness of the ecosystem we want to protect.

⭐️ With this bag you save two✌️ plastic bottles from polluting the environment 👉 Each Bag is made from 2 recycled plastic bottles ♻️!
⭐️ Handmade in Indonesia!
⭐️ Attached to a keychain 🔑 so you won’t forget your reusable bag any more. Save 💯s of plastic bags each year!
⭐️ And the #tasini Trash Hero Turtle 🐢 helps you spread the message of awareness about plastic pollution and inspire the change in people around you!

Bags are distributed at cost by our chapters in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Switzerland, New York and Finland. Get in touch with your nearest chapter for more information.

Trash Hero attends Clean World Conference 2019

by Rima Agustina on 01/02/2019 1 comment

More than 200 representatives from 70 nations and various environmental protection organisations gathered at this year’s “Clean World Conference” from 24 to 27 January 2019.

The conference was organized in Tallinn, Estonia by the “Let’s Do It Foundation”, with the purpose of sharing experience from World Cleanup Day, held on 15 September last year; taking the next steps to implement the follow-up “Keep It Clean” plan; and determining the organiser of the next World Cleanup Day.

Trash Hero took part in the conference, represented by Roman Peter, co-founder of Trash Hero World; and Rima Agustina and Sebastian Roschkowski from Trash Hero Indonesia. Trash Hero was an official community partner at World Cleanup Day last year and will be again this coming year.

The conference was opened by Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, who stressed the importance of consumers’ behaviour and purchasing habits in moving towards more sustainable industry and business practices. The opening was followed by an introductory speech by expert in policy making, Clarissa Charlotte Morawski from Reloop Platform; representative of organised civil society and vice president of Global Earth Day, Valeria Merino; and general manager of Toyota Motor Europe, Stephen Hope.

The main topic of the first day of the conference was the “Keep It Clean” plan and its implementation in various sectors. Additionally, educational projects and awareness-raising campaigns to address the problem of mismanaged waste on a local and global level were also discussed.

The second day of the conference focused on summaries of the World Cleanup Day held on 15 Sept 2018. Five country team leaders shared their success stories: Agustina Iskandar (Indonesia), who led 7.68 million people participating in the initiative in the country; Aijan Chynybaeva (Kyrgyzstan), who managed to involve 7 percent of the country’s population; Luan Hasanaj, who was responsible for the 10.6 percent of Kosovo’s population that took part in the event; Nima Zare (Iran), who organised cleanups in difficult conditions of political unrest but successfully motivated 144,000 people to participate in the cause; and Carlos Serra (Mozambique), who shared about his experience in engaging and educating young people on the issues.

Trash Hero co-founder, Roman Peter, was invited as a panelist in the discussion of “How to make World Cleanup Day more impactful? How to use it as awareness building tool about waste problem?”, with the key question of “should we continue cleaning up?”. Roman answered clearly “yes.” Further, he explained that Trash Hero will continue to do cleanups, as we see directly that they are a valuable educational tool that opens the door to behaviour change. “For us, this is the only way to finally stop cleaning up in the future,” he added.

Trash Hero believes this year has the perfect momentum for the planet to shift in the right direction. We are happy to be part of it and we look forward to continue supporting the initiatives in the future.

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Some livestream videos of the conference can be seen below:

Panel discussion of “How to make World Cleanup Day more impactful? How to use it as awareness building tool about waste problem?”
https://www.facebook.com/trashheroindonesia/videos/747318285648476

World Cleanup Day Indonesia’s leader, Agustina’s speech:

Agustina Iskandar, the leader of World Cleanup Day Indonesia gives a speech about success story of Indonesia to the world in Clean World Conference 2019 in Tallinn, Estonia. #LetsDoIt #WCW2019

Gepostet von Trash Hero Indonesia am Freitag, 25. Januar 2019

Surviving and thriving after a disaster

by Seema on 11/12/2018 No comments

Only 2 square kilometres in size, the “Robinson Crusoe” paradise of Gili Meno is the smallest of the three Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia.

It was here, in February 2015, that Trash Hero Gili Meno was founded. Fringed by an idyllic white sand beach around its entire perimeter, the island was under attack on all sides from floating ocean plastic. And, as is common on the archipelago, there was no waste management infrastructure, and no space for landfill, so islanders used open burning as the means of disposing of their trash.

Within a couple of years, the Trash Hero Gili Meno team had motivated their fellow residents to find solutions to these problems. Every business on the island now supports the Sunday cleanups, which are also attended by most of the island’s children.

The growing passion for zero waste among chapter leaders Sulman Alfarizi Ali and Samsul “Adi” Hadi [pictured, left] eventually lead them to give up their full time jobs in tourism earlier this year and found the Brotherhood Recycling and Education Centre. Now they work on improving their community’s waste management, focusing on reduction, reuse and recycling.

The entire Brotherhood Centre is made from salvaged waste, from the bottle walls, to can and plastic bag decorations. Workshops are held to teach people recycling skills, such as how to turn empty bottles into drinking glasses by hand, using low-tech tools; any broken glass is crushed and turned into building material.

Bamboo straws and cleaning brushes are produced from locally grown plants and sold to local bars to replace plastic.

Their ecobrick initiative offers islanders rice in exchange for plastic bottles filled with non-recyclable trash, which provides an incentive not to burn the toxic material. The bottles are then used in construction projects around the community.

“I really want to look after my island,” says Sulman. “I felt that on Gili Meno sometimes we just look at money only. It was sad for me to see that everywhere there was trash and plastic, and people burning it. I think soon nobody is going to visit any more and then the money is gone… so better we clean and take care and then everyone will want to come to this beautiful place. We make it sustainable.

“Trash Hero does not give us any money but we get a lot of training and support from them. And things like t-shirts, books and bottles help to promote our activities and motivate the people to join us.”

In August 2018, a series of devastating earthquakes hit Indonesia, with the 7.0 magnitude tremor on the evening of Sunday 5 August ravaging the Gili Islands and northern Lombok. The death toll from these events, including the aftershocks that continued for weeks after, stands at 563; and more than 400,000 people lost their homes in the disaster.

In Gili Meno, around 75% of the infrastructure was destroyed.

“The earthquake had a huge detrimental effect on the island, not only in terms of buildings, but people lost their livelihoods because there was no tourism. But the local community did not for one second give up. In order to get the tourists back, and in order to maintain a sense of routine for their kids and their lives, they decided to keep the island clean – to make sure not only the tourists could enjoy it, but the local community as well,” explains Sarah Kursheed, a dive instructor based on the island.

So the Trash Hero Sunday cleanups went on and became a focus for the community rebuilding process. Life slowly got back to normal.

The community even participated in World Cleanup Day on 15 September 2018, with the support of Trash Hero, though many were still living in makeshift camps.

“Since after the earthquake it is a little hard for us,” admits Adi. “We have to start from the beginning, but slowly we will grow again and do more.”

Watch how Trash Hero Gili Meno is regenerating their island in the aftermath of the Indonesian earthquakes:

Trash Hero World co-founder, Roman Peter, visited the island in November 2018 and was amazed at the spirit he found. “It’s inspirational to me how they have got through this disaster together. It was especially moving to see how the Trash Hero activities gave the kids some much needed structure after the trauma of losing their homes. The focus on reducing and reusing waste is stronger than ever and we will do everything we can to support them in this.”

See for yourself in the resulting short movie, above: filmed entirely on site in November, mere months after the earthquake, the strength and motivation of Trash Hero Gili Meno is an inspiration to us all.

Hopefully, it is also clear from the video that the island is once again open for tourists, and is as safe and beautiful as ever – go visit and be amazed!

Sharing, learning and networking at the Family Meetings

by Seema on 07/12/2018 1 comment

“Gained new knowledge.”
“Sharing insight and ideas.”
“We know that we are not alone!”

That was just some of the feedback from our recent series of “Trash Hero Family Meetings” held in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia this autumn 2018.

These twice-yearly events bring together our local chapter leaders from each country with the Trash Hero World team, external speakers and like minded local NGOs, for three days of workshops, education sessions, informal networking and above all boosting our energy as a movement.

Although each country’s agenda is different, certain elements are the same: we have a “leaders’ academy” for new chapters to learn the ropes of weekly cleanups, the bottle program and so on, with our in-country mentor teams; advanced sessions on particular aspects of our work, for example quality standards or public speaking; and an education day where we meet others doing similar work, to network and learn from their experience.

Logistics for the events are entirely covered by our donations, so no volunteers need be out of pocket for accommodation, food or travel; we pay expenses for actual costs, rather than per diem. Of course, all the work of organising the meetings is done for free, by more of our volunteers (special thanks to Nan, Ulli, Rima and Fancy!); and no speakers are paid.

In Thailand, we stayed at Ban Sabai Hostel in Bangkok from 19 – 21 October; in Malaysia at Langkawi Dormitorio from 27 – 29 October; and in Indonesia at Michi Retreat, Kememai Hostel and Lagas Hostel in Ubud, Bali from 2 – 4 November: our thanks to them, our venue hosts Frangipani Resort (Langkawi) and Museum of Marketing (Bali), and our other sponsors for their support. A full report, with accounting, will follow in the New Year.

For the first time since we started the Family Meetings in 2016, we sent out a multilingual online feedback survey to follow up on participants’ experience of the event.

From the 44% of attendees who replied, we had an overwhelming endorsement for the meetings, with on average 98.4% of respondents saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with the outcomes.

There were also some helpful comments and great ideas about how to improve for next time, including moving the venues to different areas for chapters to “host”; more outdoor activities, such as joint “model” cleanups; and earlier communication of the agenda.

As technology is always a barrier to participation in Southeast Asia, we will also ensure there is an offline version of the survey available at the next meetings in April – May 2019, to enable higher participation.

Let’s round up with some of the comments from the survey.

“I am very happy, I get many new friends, new information. Later the information that I got, I will practice.”
“The information on WtE [Waste to Energy] and how other chapters run was very valuable. We know that we are not alone to solve problems.”
“It is really nice to meet all of the people who are working on this together. It makes you feel like you are not alone in this battle.”

See you next time!

Sanur’s little heroes!

by Seema on 08/10/2018 No comments

Sanur Independent School in Bali found our kids’ book via the daughter of Julia, one of our local volunteers, who brought it into school.

They read the story aloud in class and were so inspired by the story and pictures, they invited Julia to come along and give a talk about ocean plastics and what they could do to help. She explained about different types of rubbish, the effects of plastic on health and wildlife, ocean gyres, different ways to reduce waste, and how they can be activists and join the Trash Hero movement.

“They loved it and asked loads of questions!” she said.

They then did a cleanup together and all the kids in grade 1- 2 wrote a story about what they can do to help with the rubbish problem.

Thank you Julia and the Sanur Trash Hero Kids! You are awesome!

Turtle release and cleanup in Bali

by Seema on 14/09/2018 No comments

On 8 September 2018, Trash Hero Canggu led a very special cleanup in conjunction with Gangga Surf Community and a neighbourhood school.
With 120 children and 15 adults, they cleaned a section of Yeh Gangga beach on Bali, followed by the release of 50 baby turtles into the ocean.

Rima, our local chapter leader, said “It was just wonderful! Seeing those kids with their energy and spirit made us so happy!”

It was indeed a perfect opportunity for kids to see for themselves the direct benefits of their efforts, as they watched these vulnerable, adorable creatures make their way across the clean sand and into the sea.

Trash Hero Family Meetings Report | Apr-May 2018

by Seema on 18/06/2018 No comments

Special occasions call for a special report!
Read all about our recent #trashhero Family Meetings in Southeast Asia below (click on the link to view or download PDF), and find out how they were funded and supported.
Thanks to all our sponsors who made it happen and of course to all our amazing chapter leaders who brought so much knowledge, enthusiasm and love to the events 💛💛💛

Trash Hero Family Meeting Report – April – May 2018 [PDF]

Four Family Meetings and a Book Launch

by Seema on 14/05/2018 No comments

Over the past three weeks, more than a hundred of our amazing local leaders across Southeast Asia came together in their countries for a series of summits, that we call “family meetings”, due to the incredible spirit and emotional connections that they foster.
Exchanging news, knowledge and ideas, they left energised and excited to do even more in their communities to take action on waste.

We kicked off in Bangkok, Thailand, from 27 – 29 April; then moved on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia from 1 – 2 May; Bali, Indonesia from 4 – 6 May; and finally Yangon in Myanmar from 11 – 13 May.
Alongside presentations on Trash Hero’s progress, values and objectives, we enjoyed lively discussions on community waste banks; burning trash; water filters; and greenwashing.

And we were able to start the process of registration of legal entities to represent Trash Hero within each country – a step that will allow the movement to professionalise and scale under the governance of Trash Hero World.

The family meetings also provided the opportunity to launch and distribute our kids’ book and activity program, sponsored by last year’s crowdfunding campaign. The response from our chapters was overwhelming, with all 3000 books snapped up – and in some areas, such as Trash Hero Candidasa below, already in use!

Trash Hero Candidasa kids