Marlon Kamagi , Waste Banks for a Better Earth

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Marlon Kamagi.

Marlon Kamagi, 48, is convinced that everybody can contribute to the prevention of environmental damage on earth today, from coral bleaching to global warming. Although it may sound complex, all the problems can be overcome firstly by understanding and getting involved in handling the single basic issue: waste.

“Waste is very close to our daily lives. If we have been educated in waste management from an early period at home, we will find it easy to deal with the other environmental issues,” said Marlon when visited in Papakelan village, East Tondano, Minahasa, North Sulawesi, on Friday afternoon (9/6/2022).

People’s knowledge of waste management can be measured, among other ways, by their practice of sorting waste. However, in reality it is no simple to raise public awareness to make it a daily routine in life.

“The biggest challenge is education,” added Marlon.

Therefore, over the last decade, Marlon has been establishing waste banks in settlement areas to invite local people to sort their waste independently. Since 2012, he has pioneered and facilitated the opening of waste banks in more than 30 locations in Manado, Minahasa, North Minahasa and Bitung. Some of them are funded by private groups.

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Besides physical construction, Marlon also promotes local residents’ capacity to execute the function of waste banks. After the facilities and people are ready, waste banks are granted to the communities for their self-supporting management. A lot more residents are expected to be interested in becoming customers and gaining economic benefits from waste.

This is very important in North Sulawesi, which has earned the status of super-priority tourist destination (DSP) with its undersea panoramic beauty as its main attraction.

Waste banks also serve as an incentive for residents to be proactive in sorting waste at home, such as plastic waste and food garbage. This is very important in North Sulawesi, which has earned the status of super-priority tourist destination (DSP) with its undersea panoramic beauty as its main attraction.

“Waste banks will be able to connect the three pillars of sustainable tourism development, which are social, economic and environmental sectors. The public can enjoy additional income from waste while the environment is protected from contamination,” said the man born in Sigi, Central Sulawesi.

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Marlon Kamagi

The positive impact of waste banks at the grassroots level indeed seems to be modest. Nonetheless, according to Marlon, the waste sorting practice will open the door to everybody to actively contribute to the prevention of greater environmental problems, like saving coral reefs and halting fish contamination by microplastics.

Based on a 2015 study by Jenna Jambeck, a professor of environmental technology at the University of Georgia in the United States, Indonesia is the second-largest plastic waste producer in the world. Its position is between China in the first place and the Philippines in the third. This situation endangers North Sulawesi, which directly faces those countries.

“Part of the World Coral Triangle zone with remarkable coral reef biodiversity lies in the waters off North Sulawesi. This area is threatened with damage as a result of plastic waste,” said Marlon.

At present, in Manado alone, waste production can reach 600 tons daily. If residents of the “Land of Waving Coconut Trees” are indifferent, not only will the region’s tourism potential be sacrificed, its marine biodiversity and capacity to absorbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be impacted too.

The good news, noted Marlon, was that everybody could contribute to the prevention of these issues by taking simple actions at home.

Ecosystem

But maintaining the continuity of waste banks is no easy matter. Of the 30 locations that serve as waste banks initiated by Marlon, only 10 have remained operational. This is because not all waste bank management personnel can find buyers to absorb waste from local communities.

So, Marlon deemed it necessary to have an institution as the ecosystem center of waste processing with the task of absorbing waste from residents for direct recycling or reselling to third parties. For this reason, he set up a start-up called Baciraro Recycle in 2020.

Besides that, 20 people in Manado, 19 small enterprises in Minahasa and 45 cafés in North Minahasa and Bitung are waste donors.

Baciraro has now fostered five waste banks initiated by Marlon in North Sulawesi: one in Serawet village, North Minahasa; one in Bitung; and three in Tompaso, Minahasa. Besides that, 20 people in Manado, 19 small enterprises in Minahasa and 45 cafés in North Minahasa and Bitung are waste donors.

With the waste banks and donor partners, the company, which won the Manado 1,000 Regional Digital Start-up Movement competition in 2020, has absorbed more than 50 tons of plastic waste over the last two years. Plastic bottles of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) type are resold to bottled drinking water producers in Java, while bottle caps of the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) type are recycled in house.

By means of a chopper and extruder granted by a Swiss nongovernmental organization, Trash Waste Solutions (TWS), every day Baciraro can recycle 100 kg of bottle caps. Its final products are construction bricks and plastic poles or filament threads for 3D printers.

The most immediate target Marlon wishes to achieve with Baciraro is the production of 1,000 plastic bricks ordered by the TWS. “These are planned to be used for building a house on Siladen Island [Manado] with the concept of zero waste,” said the father of four.

Activism

Baciraro is not the only channel for Marlon to realize his various innovations in overcoming the waste issue. Now Marlon is also secretary general of the Indonesian Waste Entrepreneurs Association. In 2019, he also founded PT Solusi Kreatif Kompis, a digital company developing waste bank applications, and Celebes Energi Lestari Cooperative to accommodate waste businesspeople in North Sulawesi.

In addition, since 2011 Marlon has been the only activist of the Climate Reality Project, an international NGO created by former US vice president Al Gore, in North Sulawesi. His main task is to raise public awareness of global climate change.

Marlon has no objection to being called an environmental activist. His path has not always been smooth. In 2013, he initiated water hyacinth waste banks and biomass power generators as part of an effort to save the critical Lake Tondano. The concept will open the opportunity for active public involvement in saving the environment as well as enjoying economic benefits.

Still, the Minahasa regency administration preferred to spend money to procure an excavator for the removal of water hyacinths. Consequently, the water hyacinth problem in Lake Tondano has still not been solved, while the Minahasa regency’s excavator has sunk into the lake.

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Marlon Kamagi

Marlon is not discouraged, though.

“My principle is that the universe supports me. I’ve never been driven to despair if my idea is rejected. The

important thing is to convey the idea to the public. If it is expressed at the right time and accepted by the right man, it will definitely be realized,” he pointed out.

Now Marlon is striving to channel his different innovations through Baciraro. After succeeding in HDPE plastic processing, the company is paving the way for maggot breeding to process organic waste.

Marlon Kamagi

Born: Kulawi, Sigi, Central Sulawesi, 15 March, 1974

Education:

- Methodist Senior High School 8 Medan 1991-1994

- Associate’s degree in mechanical engineering, State Polytechnic Manado 1995-1997

- Bachelor’s degree in economics, College of Economics Manado 2001-2003

- Master’s degree in community development, Hasanuddin University 2008-2010

- Sustainable tourism course, Griffith Institute for Tourism Australia 2017-2018

- Wife:Ratih Ticoalu

- Children: Four

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira)