Tegal, August 15 2023 - Let's Do Recycling! Program, an advocacy program that aims to educate and help reduce plastic waste since 2019 is collaborating the Tegal City Government through the Environmental Agency to hold a socialization activity of the "Tegal Towards Waste-free City" Program on Tuesday, August 15 2023, at Khas Tegal Hotel.
In her presentation, the Head of Tegal City Environmental Agency, Nany Lestari, revealed that the total waste production in Tegal city could reach 200 tons per day, which caused a buildup of waste and caused several waste dumping sites (TPS) to become overloaded.
"Concrete action to manage waste in Tegal City needs to be taken. We need to start from upstream to solve this problem. Not only from the government, but also comprehensive collaboration is needed with the private sector, producers and the environmental community so that the results can be maximized," said Nany.
Hanggara Sukandar, President Director of Trinseo Materials and Sustainability Director of Responsible Care® Indonesia, explained that the "Tegal Towards Waste-free City" program is a program that involves all environmental activists and all sub-districts of Tegal City.
"Since 2020, we have collaborated with the Tegal City Government to increase literacy. This year, in order to welcome World Cleanup Day which will be celebrated in September, LDRP! together with the Tegal City Environmental Agency, we created the Tegal Towards Waste-free City program by involving the community to actively participate in waste management and recycling activities," explained Hanggara.
There are at least 27 sub-district representatives in Tegal City who attended the socialization of the "Tegal Towards Waste-free City" program. Through representatives from each sub-district who attended, LDRP! and the Environment Agency hope that this program will be followed by all levels of communities in Tegal City, not only from women in Family Welfare Development, but also the Youth Organizations, Village Community Empowerment Institutions, and university students.
In this program, the program will not only provide education about facts about waste recycling to all levels of society, but also encourage people to actively participate through interesting competitions. Nany explained that there will be two competitions, a video competition about innovative waste recycling management and a competition for waste recycling works that have economic value to implement a circular economy. It is planned that the culmination of this event will be held on September 18 2023 as well as to celebrate World Clean Up Day together with the people of Tegal City.
"Our target through the program is to ensure that waste management does not only focus on certain aspects, but also covers all stages from upstream to downstream in the waste chain. Through this program, it is hoped that with support and active participation from the community, the vision of making Tegal a waste-free city can be realized," concluded Hanggara.