AFIFAH LUTHFIYA HANUM AND WASTE PAPER RECYCLE

Nowadays there is a programme for student in a school namely P5 or Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project. My school also organised an activity to show our students performance and creations. We called it Panen Karya. It is a part of the P5 activity.  Incidentally, the theme we took was Sustainable Lifestyle. And the topic is waste into masterpiece.

Indeed, in the current Merdeka Curriculum, children are invited to learn with new concepts, with the hope that the knowledge they receive can be applied directly to their daily lives. As a teacher, I am very enthusiastic about this P5 Project Programme.

                        My students and I

In this project, I invited my students to manage waste and turn it into something useful. I also explained about the dangers of waste. I gave my students the freedom to explore what waste they would process. And it turns out that most of them process plastic waste.

Most people know that plastic waste is more dangerous than other waste. Plastic is also not biodegradable. So we must really reduce the use of plastic waste.

But don't forget that paper waste is also very disturbing to our environment. Based on data from the National Waste Management Information System (SIPSN), paper or cardboard contributes 11.7% of our total waste.Although paper waste can decompose within 3 to 6 months depending on the soil conditions, it is still a nuisance to our environment.

RUBAH KERTAS

When I found @rubahkertas's Instagram and saw her posts, it felt good to see young people who are concentrated on thinking and caring about the surrounding environment. As we all know, there are not many young people like that, right?

Rubah Kertas concentrates on processing paper waste. Recycling waste paper into something useful. So as a socio-preneur, Rubah Kertas focuses on turning waste paper into reusable materials.

Afifah Luthfiya Hanum is a young founder of Rubah Kertas who devotes herself to managing paper waste. Afifah thought why should paper that can still be used end up as waste? Whereas, with a little effort, we can give it a new life. From this simple concern, she was moved to build a recycling system that involves the wider community.

Under the Rubah Kertas initiative, Afifah collects waste paper from offices, schools and households to be processed into useful and economically valuable products. She utilises this paper waste into products such as notebooks, decorative papers, and eco-friendly souvenirs.

With these products, Afifah not only focuses on the environmental aspect, but also opens up economic empowerment opportunities for the surrounding communities who participate in the production process.

AFIFAH GOT SATU AWARD

Afifah's efforts were not in vain, eventually she became one of the recipients of the SATU Indonesia Awards (SIA) Appreciation at the Provincial level in 2021. 

SATU Indonesia Awards is Astra's Appreciation for the Children of the Nation who have contributed to supporting the creation of a sustainable life through the fields of Health, Education, Environment, Entrepreneurship and Technology.

The existence of Rubah Kertas began with a Student Creativity Programme (PKM) competition that the founder, Afifah, participated in 2018.

Afifah wears a logo that resembles a fox's head with the hope that she can be smart and clever like a fox, who always never gives up in getting what she wants. Afifah hopes that Rubah Kertas can be smart and dexterous in processing waste and producing works from waste paper.

Some requirements if we want to donate our paper to Rubah Kertas include: 

1. Paper must be clean, not dry or damp. 

2. The condition of the paper can be shredded or crushed, or it can still be in the form of sheets. 

3. Examples of acceptable paper: book sheets, LKS, thesis paper, thick cardboard, art paper, paper bags etc.

So from now on if you have waste paper, let's try to process it into something useful. If you are unable to process it then the Paper Fox is ready to help recycle it. Although it seems trivial, what we do can actually save the earth and have a tremendous impact.

Thank you Afifah, the small steps you've taken really have a big impact on our environment. Let's follow in Afifah's footsteps to always protect the environment to save the earth.