GREAT NEWS FOR THE PLANET! Ecobricks have officially gone viral in Jogja, Indonesia. The Ecobricks.org team revisted Jogja after our first presentation. In only ONE MONTH, the original group of women, from Bank Sampah Badran, have gone on to not only make ecobricks in their own homes, but do workshops of their own. We went around the circle to hear from them all– we counted that they had led THIRTY FOUR other workshops with Bank Sampahs– that’s not even counting other presentations to youth groups, women’s groups, and youth groups. And now, those groups are leading workshops themselves. Because the men and women of the bank sampah work hands on with the plastic, they know deeply that so many kinds just can’t be recycled. “This is is finally a solution for the plastic we can’t recycle.” says Ibu Sophie Bakhriah Sufiatun.
As Ecobricks spread and take hold here as a daily routine, tons and tons of plastic waste will be diverted from the ecosystem. Sophie has 50kg of silver lined plastic she has been saving from her own house and her neighbours. “I have been buying this from my neighbours so they don’t dump it in the river. I didn’t know what to do with it. But now I do.”Ibu Sophie will be doing a workshop in her community next week to show her neighbours how to make ecobricks also. “My husband and I have a dream: we want to build our garden fence with ecobricks”.I estimate that in 3-4 months, ecobricks will have spread throughout Jogja. Ecobricks will then transition from a fad to an everyday habit– much like we saw in the Northern Philippines. As it merges into the school system it will result in an increase in ecological consciousness and start to undermine unconscious consumption, which of course is at the root of the plastic problem.
