The national training course on Waste Composting around Our Living Environment” organized by SEAMEO BIOTROP in cooperation with PT Khairan Arya Sejahtera as event organizer was held at the Center’s headquarters on 14 - 16 June 2011.
In ancient times, plants are usually grown only by relying on available fertile soil. With the passage of time, the use of fertilizers becomes an important factor to increase agricultural yields. Compost could be made by a variety of materials such as municipal solid waste mixed with spoilage microorganisms available in farm stores. In some countries such as Bangladesh, Burma, India , Pakistan and Nepal compost is made from weeds available in large quantities i.e. water hyacinth and others. Organic fertilizers or compost is widely used in Indonesia before World War II but nowadays chemical fertilizers are mostly used. However, toxic compounds found in chemical fertilizers can be absorbed into the plants and enter the food chain via vegetables and cereals.This training course officiated by Dr. Jesus Fernandez, BIOTROP Deputy Director for Programme on behalf of the Centre Director. In his remarks Dr. Jesus said emphasized that composting has been recognized as a good alternative waste management practice. He further said it can prevent the heaping of solid waste piles in our living environment, thus avoiding groundwater pollution, land contamination, greenhouse gas emission, and many other environmental problems. In addition, it can be practiced in so many ways that are applicable either at the household or community level.
The training course was generally aimed to enable participants to acquire the knowledge and skills on household’s waste management through composting and recycling techniques for organic materials; to share their insights from the training course with other members of their community; and to support the program of 3 R (Reuce, Reuse, Recycle) by processing organic waste/household’s waste to compost.
The training course was attended by 21 participants with the breakdown as follows: SEAMEO BIOTROP staff (2), scientists from Indonesian Institute of Sciences (2), Bogor Cleaning and Gardening Agency (2), City of Medan (7), RSSNC Rumpin (4), Usaha Mulia Foundation or YUM (2) , and Karang Taruna (1) Brief lectures were provided to the participants on the technical and practical aspects of composting organic waste using simple technologies. Various composting methods using organic waste available in the surrounding environment were introduced to the participants during the practical exercises. Resource persons during the training were Dr. Hilman Affandi, Mr. Arif Nuryadin from SEAMEO BIOTROP and Prof. Dr. Win Nugroho.
The training course was led by Dr. Hilman Affandi , BIOTROP senior scientists.
