I Putu Eka Winangun - Empowering Communities Through Waste Management

I Putu Eka Winangun is the environmental leader in Pererenan and Village Director for Merah Putih Hijau (MPH), a Balinese endeavor aimed at promoting the construction of waste management systems across Bali. For years he has successfully campaigned for the implementation of a number of environmental measures, which have resulted in cleaner rivers and increased the overall quality of life in Pererenan.

MPH was formed in 2016 by a group of motivated local people to combat mounting waste issues. Their pilot project is in the village of Pererenan, in the Badung regency, and works closely with the local village officials, local coworking space Dojo, PT. Mantra and the local Subak. The pilot project is in its final stages of construction and is already up and running. MPH plans to expand across all of Bali and it makes use of existing waste management laws, infrastructure budgets and a waste management funds to make this a reality.

MPH not only aims to tackle Bali's waste management problems, it also provides villages with a secondary revenue stream and raises awareness in their communities of the need to be more environmentally conscious.

How did you get involved with sustainability?

We first started in 2011 with an organization called Pererenan Gumi Lestari. This organization focused mainly on our local village environment. At the time many people would come to Pererenan to fish in the rivers, but many of them would use poison to fish. They would contaminate the water with poison and this seriously damaged our habitat and depleted the fish in our rivers.

Seeing this many of us got together and decided to start an organization to protect our environment from such activities. We contacted hobby fishermen who had an interest in preserving our wildlife to help us. Pererenan's village leader responded positively to our plan and officially supported us. So we held village meetings and convinced the residents to participate. Since then we have organized several beach and river cleanups with the helps of the locals. We have also repopulated the rivers with shrimps and fish, and have encouraged field trips for schools to teach children the importance of conservation efforts. Now it is not only the locals but also the expatriates who live in the village that are helping us. We have had foreigners support our projects financially, including one man who funded our efforts for three years before he left Bali. After that Sean Nino and Dojo have stepped in and have been funding our operational costs for a year. They have been getting lots of support from the Bali community because everyone really wants a solution for waste management. 

What drove you to pursue this project?

I love it. We do it because we care. We care about our environment, about our nature, our village and ourselves. If we don't start now we will have serious problems in the future. We have to do something about our growing waste issues otherwise it will destroy us.

Is MPH a fully Balinese project?

Yes, but we have had financial support from the MPH team to cover our labor and operational costs and build our facility.It is however our commitment to continue this project wholly self-funded because it is important for the viability of this project that we not rely on third-party investments. We have the full support of the Badung regency leader who has order meetings between village leaders and himself to discuss expanding the project to every village in the region. He recently told village leaders that if they wish to continue receiving support from the local government they must construct similar facilities to process local waste.

How did MPH approach the community and get them onboard this project?

The biggest challenge we face is changing habits and the way people think. We began by identifying local leaders and prominent members of the community. Then we began by approaching them and asking them to separate waste in their homes and businesses. The reason for this is because if they set the right example the rest of the community will eventually follow.

It is very important to follow-up with the community and keep reminding them of the importance of this project, which is why we frequently meet with the participants. At the start we chose a small number of families who had shown a great interest in the project. We have since expanded and convinced more and more families to participate, because once people started seeing the results they became interested in participating.

What is the project timeline, and how will the project be funded?

The facility we are building will be paid for by the village collectively, and the revenue generated by the facility will go towards maintaining and expanding the project, with the eventual profits being poured back into the village. This is extremely important because a reliance on outside funding doesn't allow for long-term planning, but local funding will ensure we as a community can continue to expand and sustain the project, and the profits go directly into village coffers which will allow us to develop the village as a whole. In short, local funding is the most sustainable option.

By the middle of June we will start the construction of our main facility and will start collecting waste. We have already contracted laborers and have acquired three trucks to collect waste. We also have access to an existing recycling station, which we can use to process at least half of the materials we start collecting. The end goal is to be able to reduce the amount of waste sent to the rubbish dumps by at least 75%, and we are aiming to reduce it by 90% when we are fully operational.

What will you do with the waste/ materials?

We will make compost with the organic waste and sell it back to farmers and villas. This part of the project is actually already ongoing. For recyclable materials such as glass and plastics we will clean it and resell them to the recycling industry. The key is separation at source. By making everyone in Pererenan separate at source, we get a highly valuable stream of materials coming to the facility. There is very little waste actually.  

Have local businesses been given rules and guidelines for MPH's waste management strategy?

We have written guidelines for local businesses and homes, and we are having continuous meetings to educate our people and change their mindset. That being said how we enforce the rules will depend on which phase of the project we are in. in the first phase of the project we are merely encouraging people to work with us, and if they do not follow our guidelines we will not provide them with our services. However in phase two of the project, once it is formally adopted by the village, we will have fines in place to enforce separation at source. Timing is key and growing a village strategy takes time and a good strategy and structure. The MPH group has really helped us to put this together and they have an entire team that supports our village. 

The Indonesian government has focused heavily on developing the tourism industry. In the past five years Canggu has been massively overdeveloped and become overcrowded. Is Pererenan at risk of being paved over in service of the tourism industry?

To be honest I want to keep Pererenan as green as possible, and the Badung government agrees. At least half of Pererenan is currently designated green zones, which means people are not allowed to develop those areas into hotels, bars and such. The other half is designated a residential area, which also limits the kind of development allowed to take place. People will not be given permits to develop hotels and nightclubs, and those that do face steep penalties for violating zoning laws.

I really agree with this policy and want to see us remain a green zone for as long as possible.

Do you see any change taking place across Bali in regards to the way people look at their environment?

Yes for sure. I believe that generally speaking Balinese people are waking up to how important the environment is to our future. Pererenan is the pilot project but we expect to expand MPH's waste management model to various other villages across the Badung regency over the next year or two.