Small Steps, Huge Benefits
Tan Novita, 34, and Ovy Sabrina, 34, started a movement to recycle this type of waste into bricks and paving blocks.
Plastic food packaging waste threatens the environment. However, it is this type of waste that is most often thrown away but recycled the least. Tan Novita, 34, and Ovy Sabrina, 34, started a movement to recycle this type of waste into bricks and paving blocks.
In February, a message circulated via WhatsApp that reads: "Try to remember how often we produce waste sachets every day. Every snack has a wrapper and we throw it away. We eat instant noodles and throw away the packaging. We drink sachet coffee and throw away the plastic.”
The writer of the message then explained that sachet waste could be recycled into bricks and paving blocks.
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"There are young people who are motivated to process them into bricks because they are concerned about turning plastic waste into useful items," the message added, referring to Rebricks, the waste recycling movement built by Tan “Novi” Novita and Ovy Sabrina.
It turns out that the message had a moving effect. Many people came to attend training on processing sachet waste held by Rebricks in the South Jakarta area. There were also those who simply handed over their trash to Novi or Ovy house.
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On Friday (16/10/2020), piles of cardboard or sacks containing various plastic packages from residents kept arriving. The plastic waste will be sorted later. Most of them are made into bricks and paving blocks.
"To me, [the author of the WA message] is like a \'messenger of God\'. We don\'t know who sent the WA messages, which have gone viral. But whoever you are, you are a very good person,” said Novi.
Almost gave up
Novi and Ovy were friends during university. They work together to pioneer Rebricks because they share the same vision in the green movement. Prior to founding Rebricks, Novi was involved in community development activities, including teaching people how to process waste.
Meanwhile, Ovy helps her parents manage a brick and paving block business. Ovy was intrigued to add value to paving block products.
In June 2017, they agreed to visit several food stalls and plastic waste collection points to collect several types of recyclable plastic waste. On their way, they met a garbage collector who challenged them to process plastic food packaging waste.
"This is garbage, it\'s different from plastic bottles, which have a price," said the collector. What the collectors meant was that plastic waste is difficult to recycle and, therefore, cannot be exchanged for money.
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Novi and Ovy were intrigued by the challenge. From various texts, they know that plastic packaging waste is a big problem in a number of countries.
"There needs to be a mass solution […] in processing this type of plastic waste," said Novi.
They also tried several processing methods. Initially, they tried to melt plastic packaging waste in a large bin, but the experiment failed. Not all plastic waste can melt. Even if it melts, the garbage produces black smoke that is terrible for the environmental.
"At first, we had given up," said Novi.
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Ovy tried another method, which is cutting plastic packaging with scissors into small pieces. She involved workers in her family\'s brick shop. The plastic flakes were then used as paving block material. This method also failed because the plastic flakes were still visible and could easily come off.
She tried the last method, which was chopping the plastic with a machine until it was smooth. The chopped results are mixed with sand and cement, then molded into paving blocks. If it fails, Ovy admitted that she would give up.
This method turned out to bear good results and was then tested for months until it passed the pressure test and met the Indonesian National Standards (SNI) from the Industry Ministry’s Center for Material and Technical Products. The test results show that Rebricks products are strong enough to withstand loads of up to 250 kilograms per square centimeter.
Ovy said Rebricks\' paving block formula was not random. The formula was obtained by calculations involving research lecturers from a university in Jakarta. The results of the lecturer\'s calculations and Ovy’s family\'s experience in making bricks were combined.
"You can say we had the experience, lecturers had the theory," Novi said.
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For Novi and Ovy, what really matters is not the final product, but the small movement they have initiated that can raise public awareness. Therefore, in November 2019, they openly asked for plastic sachets from anyone who wanted to sort them.
Thank you very much because you want to recycle plastic waste.
Unexpectedly, four months later, people came together to collect this type of trash and hand it over to Rebricks. They also expressed their gratitude because Novi and Ovy came up with an alternative solution to processing food packaging plastic waste.
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"Thank you very much because you want to recycle plastic waste. I don\'t want to dispose of plastic waste, which only ends up piling up at final disposal sites [TPA] or even being washed away into rivers or the sea, ” said Novi, echoing messages sent by social media users.
Through Instagram, netizens have expressed their appreciation of Rebricks. One of them is a Rebricks user who covers their open 25-square-meter car garage with paving blocks that are recycled from tens of thousands of plastic food packaging sheets.
Novi and Ovy hope that Rebricks products can be accepted by the public, so that the recycling movement they initiated two years ago can be sustainable. In the future, they will make other products, such as bricks because they can absorb more plastic flakes.
"The point is, we must not give up," Ovy said.
Tan Novita
Place, DOB: Jakarta, Nov. 27, 1985
Education:
- Tarakanita High School
- Department of Psychology, Atma Jaya Catholic University (2004-2009)
Career:
- Founder of Cimaro and Soybons – food and beverage industry (2016-2018)
Ovy Sabrina
Place, DOB: Jakarta, June 12, 1986
Education:
- Tirta Marta High School
- Department of Psychology, Atma Jaya Catholic University (2004-2009)
Career:
- Founder of Cimaro (2016-2018)