Joint Campaign Movement: #KurbanAsikTanpaPlastik
Jakarta, 9 July 2021 | Eid al-Adha is a fortune sharing event shared by Muslims all over the world. In Indonesia, one of the traditions in the Eid al-Adha event is to distribute sacrificial animals meat to the public, which is called 'kurban'. Generally, people single-use plastic as the meat container, because it is resistance to water and cheap. Single-use plastic during Eid al-Adha celebration has caused an unavoidable increasing volume of plastic waste.
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has issued a circular letter SE.2/PSLB3/PS/PLB.0/7/2019 regarding the celebration of Eid without plastic waste to all local governments in Indonesia. This appeal is addressed to every regional head to invite their citizens to use environmentally friendly packaging as a container for sacrificial meat.
The Environmental and Conservation Philanthropy Cluster (KFLHK), Indonesian Philanthropy, Dompet Dhuafa, and the Belantara Foundation took the initiative to create a no-plastic waste kurban celebration campaign, namely #KurbanAsikTanpaPlastik. This campaign aims to educate the public to replace their sacrificial meat containers from plastic to other alternative containers that are more environmentally friendly such as banana leaves, teak leaves, bamboo baskets, and reuse their own containers. Through this movement, KFLHK hopes that the volume of plastic waste, which usually increases during Eid al-Adha, can be significantly reduced.
“This movement is the first step from KFLHK to help reduce plastic waste that has accumulated in Indonesia. Every year, it is estimated that 5.4 million plastic waste is produced in Indonesia. The volume of plastic waste has increased rapidly during the pandemic because most people do online shopping which uses plastic packaging. During pandemic, we saw that medical waste which has increased sharply compared to normal times. Sacrificial activities that are part of worship rituals and provide social and economic impacts for the community should not contribute to aggravating this waste problem.
Therefore, the Eid al-Adha moment is considered appropriate to launch a movement to reduce plastic waste. “People can use bamboo baskets, banana/teak leaves, gelatin/cassava plastic, and food containers,” said Hamid Abidin, Director of Indonesian Philanthropy.
A similar opinion was expressed by Arif Rahmadi Haryono, GM of Advocacy & Strategic Alliance of Dompet Dhuafa. “The spirit of religion in the celebration of Eid is actually in line with the spirit of environmental conservation. However, we see that most Indonesians are not aware of the dangers of plastic waste to their own environment.
The 'Kurban Asik Without Plastic Waste' movement was launched to encourage changes in people's behavior in the use of plastic that cannot be recycled, especially during the Eid al-Adha moment. With the community being encouraged to replace the sacrificial meat containers that are environmentally friendly, we also directly hope that there will be community efforts to preserve the area," concluded Arif.
The Executive Director of the Belantara Foundation as well as the coordinator of the FI Environmental Cluster, Sri Mariati also added that this #KurbanAsikTanpaSampahPlastik is an opportunity to invite people from our surroundings to get used to reuse our own containers that are more environmentally friendly. In addition, joint campaign movements from various parties can be a synergistic effort to overcome environmental and other conservation problems.
This campaign has been carried out in around one month. The activities are in the form of webinars, live Instagram, and educational materials to the public. The #KurbanAsikTanpaPlastik competition video will also be held as the highlight of the event at the end of July.
