As many as 20 housewives in RW 3 Kedungkandang Subdistrict, Kedungkandang District who are members of the ‘Tempe Sabar’ Volunteers (Barokah Garbage Selection Site) carry out social actions in the form of picking up trash every Friday in every residential area.
Garbage is then transported to a special place, sorted and sold to middlemen. As a result, in addition to increasing income, it is also distributed to orphans, poor people and underprivileged people. The women’s action received appreciation from various parties, one of which was the Kedungkandang Village Head, Ahmad Imam Muji, S.Sos.
While attending the 1st anniversary of the Indonesian Garbage Alms Movement (Gradasi) Action in RW 3 Kedungkandang Village, Sunday (13/8/2023), Imam said that this step should be appreciated and could become a virus for other urban villages.
Maintain balance or natural ecosystems
Besides being able to maintain balance or natural ecosystems, according to him, this action has social value and benefits for people who need a helping hand. Imam also gave his appreciation to Susiana Ita as the initiator of this social movement and hoped that in the future there would be other Susiana women.
“I think it is very extraordinary and later the impact will be nomadic tourism, artificial tourism, culinary tourism and community empowerment, of course in general it will also increase the people’s economy,” he added.
Community Empowerment
Positive appreciation was also pinned by one of the local community leaders who is also a member of the Malang City DPRD, Lokh Mahfud. He said, his party would continue to support this movement in addition to helping a number of infrastructure for volunteers.
Lokh also hopes that this program will receive support from the Malang City Government through related regional apparatuses, such as the Malang City Environmental Service and the Malang City Diskopindag. Thus, in the future this movement will become more massive and the benefits will be even wider.
Tempe Sabar
Meanwhile, Susiana Ita revealed that at first she was intrigued and felt uneasy seeing the trash strewn about, especially plastic waste in her village. From that condition, in August 2022 he started picking up trash. As time went on, Susiana invited other housewives to participate and eventually the Tempe Sabar volunteers were formed.