Managing Waste Bank out of Concern

Cannot stand watching the litter all around her. By empowering the local community, she is gathering plastic waste for recycling. She has acted on her concern over waste by founding the Mutiara Timor Waste Bank in Kupang

KORNELIS KEWA AMA

Meilsi Mansula, founder and administrator of "Mutiara Timor", a waste bank or waste management in Kupang, Nusa Tenggara Timur. She shows piles of waste bag, bought from communities. Mutiara Timor buy Rp 1.500 - Rp 6.000 for a kg of waste.

The city of Kupang has been one of the country’s smart cities since 2017. However, this smart city still falls far short of expectations. The waste problem prevails over urban settlements. A lot of garbage litters its roads, public spaces, shopping centers and school compounds.

“I feel concerned about the condition. It is still difficult to cultivate a culture of cleanliness among individuals, families and communities. It takes a long process and time,” Anita, nicknamed “Nita”, said when she was visited in Kupang on Thursday (29/9/2022).

Nita had experience in managing waste banks and recycling waste during her university years in Malang, East Java. The experience prompted Nita to set up a waste bank in Kupang. She aspires to create a clean, neat and harmonious environment for Kupang. This undertaking is not easy, but it must begin right away.

In 2019, Nita completed her master’s degree in urban and environmental planning at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Nita desired to share her knowledge in urban and environmental planning with the people and municipal administration of Kupang.

In April 2020, the graduate of Brawijaya University Malang, East Java, started her activities in waste management. She focused on discarded plastic bags, which she deemed was very harmful to the environment, including the seas. If plastic bags accumulated in the waters of East Nusa Tenggara, they would greatly threaten the marine biota. The existence of fish, coral reefs and various kinds of sea plankton would be disturbed.

“At present, we do not yet feel the impact of plastic bags in the sea and on land. But our future generations will face this unless we deal with it right now,” said Nita.

Aside from plastic bags, she gradually expanded over time to start collecting other plastic waste like used chairs, water hoses, ballpoint pens, rice sacks, dustpans, water bottles and cups. She also collects other types of waste, such as discarded milk cans. Her waste bank also receives organic waste for turning into compost. Nita collects 26 types of plastic waste and other garbage.

The waste collection is announced through houses of worship, advertisements in the mass media and public posters. People have thus been bringing their trash to Mutiara Timor Waste Bank in Maulafa subdistrict, Kupang.

Nita still uses her parents’ house as a temporary facility for collecting the waste, but is searching for a wider plot of land to collect and manage the waste.

KOMPAS/KORNELIS KEWA AMA

Meilsi Anita Mansula shows a kind of litter, plastic part of air conditioner.

Cooperation

The Maulafa subdistrict administration has invited Nita to collaborate in gathering waste. Subdistrict staffers mobilize the residents to gather and transport the garbage, especially plastic waste, to Mutiara Timor. The cooperation is also to be expanded to the neighboring subdistricts of Oebobo, Oepura and Kolhua. The waste bank accepts 26 types of waste. Nita does not seek to profit from the business, and prioritizes the cleanliness in the smart city instead.

“My obsession is to support Kupang as a smart city through complete waste management. A clean, beautiful city with a population that is free from disasters and diseases, that’s what I’m after,” said Nita.

A total of 22 people work at the Mutiara Timor Waste Bank, of which Nita is the owner. They comprise four men and 18 housewives who work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., earning daily wages of between Rp 55,000 and Rp 80,000. The workers separate, sort, clean and compress the plastic waste into solid blocks. The solid blocks of plastic waste are transported in shipping containers to Surabaya. Every month, the waste bank delivers up to two containers of pressed plastic waste.

Originally, the waste bank produced and delivered 2 tons of waste per month. Today, it processes 20 tons of plastic waste per month. The waste is delivered to Pasuruan and Sidoarjo, East Java. There, the plastic waste is recycled to produce useful objects like sandals, doormats, brooms and water hoses.

The graduate of SMAN Kupang 1 state senior high school said that Mutiara Timor was the only waste bank operating in Kupang. In fact, operating a larger number of waste banks in the city would be more effective at tackling the waste problem. This would help realize the motto “Kupang Kota Kasih”, an acronym derived from kenangan (memorable), aman (safe), sehat (healthy), indah (beautiful) and harmonis (harmonious) without delay.

In order to assume greater responsibility, Nita wants to scale up the waste bank she manages. “We’ve applied for Mutiara Timor to be registered as a legal entity, a business entity. Today, we remain under the Kupang Environment Office. When it has become a legal entity, the subdistrict will provide a processing fee,” she said.

One of Nita’s efforts involves conducting a comparative study of several waste recycling companies in West Java and East Java. She hopes her waste bank will have the capacity to produce recycled goods, instead of only pressing plastic waste.

“It’s my big dream. I’m exploring cooperation with a number of waste management companies on the island of Java,” she said.

Furthermore, the woman from Rote has also learned how to build a reduce, reuse and recycle waste processing center (TPS3R). She intends to set up a TPS3R in Kupang to overcome the city’s urban waste problem.

According to Nita, Kupang’s waste problem will never end, as its residents are already used to discarding things after using them. Nita continues her efforts to educate the residents to avoid throwing out used goods.

Meilsi Anita Mansula

Born: Kupang, 30 May 1990

Education: Master in Urban and Environmental Planning from Griffith University, Australia

Parents: Paulus Mansula and Febrini Funay

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.