UNAIR NEWS – The Indonesia Free  Garbage Movement in 2020 has long been declared by the government. But the realization is not massive in the community. This is evident from the many people who still dump garbage on open land, such as the residents of Dukuhsari Village, Jabon, Sidoarjo. Along the road RT.02 RW.01 village Dukuhsari Village, there are piles of garbage seen that extends as far as approximately 50 meters.
The presence of neglected waste can invite many health problems. This is because the waste piles have the potential to invite animals that can transmit the disease to humans.
Inspired by this problem, five students of Faculty of Public Health (FKM) UNAIR designed a program to empower the community, especially children and adolescents accompanied by adult cadres of Dukuhsari village. The five students are Nisrina Tiara Sani as team leader, along with four other members namely Made Nita Sintari, Dian Tami Wahyuningtyas, Made Mira Wahyu Astani, and Miftahol Hudhah.
The proposed program is called GOSOK BERSAHAJA (Organic Waste Processing Movement with Child and Teenage Friends). The program is outlined in Community Service Creativity Student Program (PKM-M) and the research was funded by Kemenristekdikti 2016.
“The first realization of the GOSOK BERSAHAJA program is the implementation of socialization and composting practices at Dukuhsari village hall, through which participants are introduced about the definition of waste, the types of waste, the impact of waste on various aspects, and the alternative of waste management, especially organic waste,” stated Nisrina.
Furthermore, Nisrina explained that the participants were also equipped with knowledge about the definition of compost, compost benefits, tools and materials and procedures for making compost. Not only developing the cognitive aspect, participants are also invited to conduct composting activities directly.
“The participants were divided into three groups where each group produced a compost drum, while the main ingredient of composting in each group was deliberately varied, group I made compost made of 100% organic waste, group II compost made of 50% organic waste, and 50 % cattle dung, and group III make compost made from 100% cattle dung, ” she explained.
Nisrina added that the second realization of the GOSOK BERSAHAJA program is the dissemination activities as well as the practice of simple aquaculture cultivation. For the program, the cultivated plants are chilies and eggplants.
“This plant is chosen because it is easy to obtain, easy maintenance and cheap, can be planted in polybags, and the results are beneficial for public consumption,” she explained.
In the end Nisrina asserted that the cognitive aspect developed in this second program is knowledge on the definition of cultivation in general, about chilies and eggplants, the benefits of their cultivation, as well as the procedure of chilies and eggplants cultivation in polybags starting from seeding, preparation of planting media, removal of seeds, maintenance and harvesting.
“In this case the participants of the program are also invited to perform the direct practice of transferring seeds to the planting medium and giving fertilizing techniques using compost fertilizer well and correctly,” he concluded.
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
