Richard Allain, Vania Chrysilla, Jerry Febrico, and Livilia Abigail, students of the Biomedical Engineering Study Program, Department of Electrical Engineering, FTUI, class of 2021 won first place in the AIESEC Project Plan Competition 2.0, Gadjah Mada University (UGM). The Project Plan Competition (PPC) is a competition preparation of projects to solve the problem of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this competition, there are 50 participating teams from all universities in Indonesia.
The National Waste Management Information System (SIPSN), states that Indonesia produces a total of 28 million tons of waste in 2021. Unfortunately, this amount of waste is not matched by a good waste management system, there are still 10 million tons, or around 36% of waste that is not managed. The composition of waste is also dominated by food waste which reaches 41% of the total waste generated.
“The problem that is very often encountered in waste management in Indonesia is the distribution process which is hampered from shops or restaurants producing food waste to waste management institutions. Food waste that is not distributed will then be buried in the Final Disposal Site (TPA). This premise gave rise to the idea of improving the waste distribution system to make it more efficient and ideal,” said Vania Chrysilla.
Disposal of waste that is not managed properly can pollute the environment and have a bad impact on life. The solution that can be offered is by utilizing food waste to be used as a recycled product such as animal feed or fertilizer. Nutrients from food waste can be useful for plants and livestock.
“To expedite the food waste distribution process, we offer a product in the form of a food waste delivery application called “Maknain”. role as a buyer or seller of food waste. The sellers will later benefit in the form of cash by scheduling the sale of at least 3 kg of food waste. If the seller has made the schedule, the waste they have will be sold to the buyer,” said Richard Allain.
To maintain the quality of the food waste that will be collected, sellers of food waste must pay attention to the condition of the waste that will be sold. The maximum time limit that we set must be aged less than 2 x 24 hours to maintain the quality of the waste. Food waste must also be grouped by type (vegetable or animal).
“The price we set for each kilogram of food waste is IDR 2,000/kg for the waste sellers. Meanwhile, the price we set for the purchase is Rp. 3,000.00/kg for food waste management partners. So that the profit obtained from the distribution process is Rp. 1,000.00/kg. The price set here will also depend on market conditions. If an adjustment is indeed needed, then this will be carefully considered,” continued Jerry Febrico.
“To attract a lot of ‘Maknain’ users, we plan to socialize this application to the public and introduce this application to the government so that the handling of food waste gets maximum attention. In addition, we plan to build relationships with several local farms, in this case, Bogor Regency Livestock Area and Bogor Safari Park. In this way, the potential for a lack of consumers in the distribution process will be avoided. Through this application, the percentage of unmanaged waste, especially food waste, can be significantly reduced,” said Livilia Abigail.
After estimating the trial process of the ‘Maknain’ application program, the results show that the utilization of food waste within the Universitas Indonesia is starting to produce positive results. It is estimated that by using the application ‘Maknain’ processing can be more effective by 2.6% with an estimated food waste transaction of 100 kg per week. If it is developed on a national scale, based on the data results, the use of the ‘Maknain’ application on a national scale can increase the processing of food waste by up to 470,400 kg/year.
“Food waste that is successfully managed properly will have a direct impact on the environment, namely reduced carbon emissions which affect climate change. In addition, the various conveniences and benefits offered by ‘Maknain’ will foster enthusiasm for processing food waste into useful products. The rotation of the wheels of the Indonesian economy can also be helped by this application,” said the Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST. M.Eng., IPU regarding the Maknain application.
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia