Improving Environmental Health through Reduce Reuse Recycle

(The 3rs) and Trash Cans with Attractive Pictures at High School in

Percut Sei Tuan Sub-district

Evi Naria

, Ernawati Nasution

and Devi N. Santi

Fakultas Kesehatan Masyarakat, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: The 3Rs, Attractive Pictures, Waste Management.

Abstract: Waste management should be carried out by implementing the concept of the 3Rs. Waste is generated in

various places including in schools. Students frequently do not collect the waste into a trash can and often

leave the waste in the schoolyard, desk drawers. Even though the slogan “keep the school clean” is instructed

to the students, but they still often litter the school environment. This activity aims to improve students’ litter

education in waste management by implementing the 3Rs and providing trash cans with attractive pictures to

attract students to collect the waste into the trash cans. The method was participatory method and training to

manage waste based on the concept of the 3Rs. The result shows that students were able to manage waste by

applying the concept of the 3Rs. Students understood the concepts of the 3Rs, and created some products such

as phone stand, hand soap dispenser, and reusable grocery bags. Trash cans with attractive pictures were

provided in several areas around the school such as teachers’ room, canteen, and classroom. Students actively

participated in waste management by applying the 3Rs. This activity beneficially reduces environmental

pollution and simultaneously improves personal autonomy in environmental sustainability.

1 INTRODUCTION

Solid waste is largely found in our environment since

people do various daily activities that generate waste.

Waste is a cultural problem since it affects various

aspects of life. Therefore, the waste needs to be

properly managed to minimize the negative impacts

of waste on the environment. Waste management is

expected to be able to improve environmental

cleanliness and environmental aesthetics, prevent

pollution, and reduce disease transmission pathways.

The waste materials are very diverse, but in general,

the waste contains 75% organic waste and 25%

inorganic waste.

When the solid waste is not managed with a

proper waste management method, the waste can

adversely impact human health and the environment,

especially in metropolitan cities such as Jakarta,

Semarang, Surabaya, Bandung, Palembang, and

Medan. A survey found that the volume of solid waste

generated in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, and Surabaya

in 1987 was 0.5 kg/capita/day (Sudrajat, 2006). It is

predicted that metropolitan cities such as Jakarta,

whose population reaches 10 million, produces solid

waste approximately 5,000 tons/day. The potential

waste production in Bandung was 1.300 tons/day and

1.500 tons/day in Surabaya.

The excessive solid waste causes short and long-

term effects, especially on human health. Short-term

effects occur when human directly contact with

infected waste, such as toxic waste and waste with

pathogenic microorganisms, which can cause various

health problems. Long-term effects occur when waste

piles become the habitat of various disease vectors

which will cause to the water, air, and soil pollution.

Therefore solid waste must be properly managed to

minimize the risks to human health. Proper waste

management does not only positively impact on

human health, but also on environmental aesthetics.

The 3Rs is one of the most effective methods that

should be implemented in waste management.

According to Law Number 18 of 2008 concerning

waste management, Reduce is an attempt to reduce

waste production which includes saving and selecting

materials by considering their characteristics such as

minimizing the use of the hazardous material. Reuse

is an attempt to reuse goods without any change and

process. Recycle is an attempt to use goods for other

Naria, E., Nasution, E. and Santi, D.

Improving Environmental Health through Reduce Reuse Recycle (The 3rs) and Trash Cans with Attractive Pictures at High School in Percut Sei Tuan Sub-district.

DOI: 10.5220/0010101409170921

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

917-921

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

917

purposes by changing or processing the waste become

new goods. According to Aryenti (2011), improper

waste management method can cause various risks to

human health and the environment.

The 3Rs waste management offers environmental,

social, and economic benefits (Suwerda, 2012). A

proper method in waste management can reduce the

waste piles around the settlements and eradicate

resting sites and breeding sites of vectors. Thus, the

environment becomes cleaner and more comfortable

for the human. Moreover, recycling the solid waste

will produce products which can be sold to strengthen

household economically.

Apinhapath (2014) states a sustainable waste

management is required to solve waste problems and

to achieve environmental sustainability. It is effective

to reduce waste management costs of each process

including collection, transportation, processing, and

recycling or final disposal.

Waste is usually produced where people gather to

do certain activities such as schools. Students carry

out various activities that can produce solid waste.

Sadly, schools as a second home for students

generally still do not have good waste management.

School should be clean so that students are

comfortable to learn. But, several schools still have

scattered waste around the school environment.

Taufik (2016) conducted a study on school waste

management and found that 39.87% of students

sometimes put the waste in any area in the school

environment and 19.26% of students never put waste

into a trash can. School activities were finished and

solid waste was scattered around the school

environment. The materials of school waste were

very diverse such as paper, plastic food packaging,

and water bottle waste. Even though the slogan “keep

the school clean” was instructed to students, but they

still left waste everywhere, including in the desk

drawers. The researcher suggested the other

researchers provide trash cans in that school and hold

an extracurricular program to teach students about

waste management, at least about personal waste

management since another study found that personal

waste can reach o.8kg/day.

Karlina (2017) studied eco-literacy (ecological

awareness) of students in waste management

activities. The study found that after following two

cycles of outdoor-based learning study, students' eco-

literacy increased in several aspects: knowledge

(20%), application 49.6%, and attitude (19.4%).

According to Widyaningrum (2015), the participation

level of high school students in managing school

waste was active category with a mean score of 166.5.

Meanwhile, students' knowledge of waste

management was good enough with a score of 15.2.

According to Boiyo (2015), students generally have a

negative attitude toward student participation in

environmental cleanliness in school. Students often

assume that school environmental cleanliness is the

responsibility of school janitors.

According to Musfirah (2017), school waste

management needs to be taken seriously. Students

generally still do not manage waste optimally. In

Musrifah’s study, the students were taught

theoretically and practically about waste

management. After the treatments, it was found that

the experimental group and control group were

different with a p-value of 0.041.

This study is a public service as an intervention in

environmental health by implementing the 3Rs and

providing trash cans with attractive pictures,

especially interesting images, at two high schools in

Percut Sei Tuan Sub-district, Deli Serdang Regency.

It is regrettable that schools as the second place for

students still do not implement a proper waste

management. Solid waste is still scattered around the

school environment. Therefore, this activity will help

schools to create a better waste management. Trash

cans with attractive pictures of interesting images

provided in schools are expected to attract students to

actively participate in waste management.

2 METHOD

The target of this study was people who are

economically unproductive. Therefore, students were

choosen to be the participants. The activity involved

50 students from two high schools in Deli Serdang

Regency: 25 students of Madrasah Tsanawiyah

Aisyiyah and 25 students of SMK Mandiri. Students

were trained to implement the 3Rs to ensure that

students will be able to practically reduce, reuse, and

recycle waste in school and other environments.

Through this training, students were expected to have

skills in recycling solid waste to be beneficial goods.

To support the training, trash cans with attractive

pictures were provided in several strategic areas in the

schools. Trash cans with attractive pictures were

expected to attract students to actively participate in

waste management.

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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3 RESULT

3.1 Waste Management Training with

the Concept of the 3Rs

The information about the concept of reuse and its

example were provided for students. Then, students

were asked to give other examples of goods to reuse.

Students reported some reuse activities that they did

such as storing plastic bags, using cloth handkerchief

than the tissue, and using a rechargeable battery.

The definition of reduce, as an attempt to

minimize waste production, was explained to the

students. Several examples were also provided to the

student to ensure they really understand the concept

of reduce such as using reusable water bottles, taking

refill products, and bringing their own grocery bags.

Students then reported the example of reduce

activities that they did such as using reusable water

bottles to schools. The survey showed that 68% of

students brought reusable water bottles to school. It

means that students did not buy bottled mineral water

which can produce plastic bottle waste.

Students also got information about the concept of

recycling as processing the waste to become

beneficial and valuable goods. Students were trained

to recycle various waste materials and create several

kinds of products such as phone stand, hand soap

dispenser, and grocery bags.

1. Phone stand

Phone stand was made from used a cardboard box.

All students were able to create phone stands

easily. Students were highly interested in this

product since every student had a phone. Phone

stand is needed to get a safe phone position.

Students were satisfied with their product since

they can use it.

2. Hand soap dispenser

Hand soap dispenser was made from disposable

bottles. All students of SMK Mandiri finished this

product smoothly. Meanwhile, only 60% of

Madrasah Tsanawiyah Aisyiyah who finished the

product based on the indicators.

3. Grocery bag

The grocery bag was made from a used t-shirt. All

sizes of t-shirt can be used to make grocery bags.

The process of creating a grocery bag from a used

t-shirt is easy. It only consists of two simple

processes: cutting and tying. About 90% of

students were able to finish this product well.

Besides for grocery bags, students can also use the

bag to bring their books and water bottle to school.

Some students reported that they used the bags to

bring goods when they went swimming.

Meanwhile, some students planned to make other

bags and sell them to earn money.

3.2 Creating Waste Management

Slogan

In the activity, there was a session in which students

were encouraged to creatively create several slogans

about waste management. This session aimed to

improve students’ awareness of the importance of

environmental cleanliness. The slogans become a

persuasion to other students to participate in

maintaining environmental health. There were four

selected slogans which were printed on banners, as

following:

1. Smart students keep the environment clean

2. Clean environment for clean hearth and soul

3. Take care of nature, nature will take care of you

4. Don’t be a litterbug

3.3 Providing Trash Cans with

Attractive Pictures

Trash cans with interesting images aimed to attract

students to put waste into the trash can and built

student habitual to not litter in the school

environment. Trash cans with images were especially

ordered from a factory. The trash cans were creatively

Various images about the beauty of nature, such as

flowers, were chosen to persuade students to love the

nature. Several cartoon images were also used since

the students like cartoons.

The trash cans were located in several strategic

and accessible areas such as classrooms, canteen, and

schoolyard. The areas were considered as strategic

areas since the students often do activities and usually

produce solid waste there. Trash cans were also

located in some other areas, such as teacher’ room. So

that the teachers can be a role model for students in

participating in school environmental health.

This activity helped the schools to inform the

students about students’ role in supporting the

programs of school waste management. Thus, all

students were expected to understand about waste

management. The students can practice the 3Rs

method, especially to recycle waste to become

beneficial goods. Students can process the waste to be

beneficial and valuable goods which they can use for

their daily activities. Therefore, the awareness of

waste utilization as an opportunity to earn own money

grows in students’ mind.

This activity also improved students’ skills and

understanding of waste management in their

Improving Environmental Health through Reduce Reuse Recycle (The 3rs) and Trash Cans with Attractive Pictures at High School in Percut

Sei Tuan Sub-district

919

environment. Thus, the waste problems in the school

can be properly solved by involving students to

participate in waste management. Students’

understanding of waste management will encourage

them to practice waste management and to be

responsible for their personal waste.

Schools are cleaner, beauty, and comfortable for

students. Trash cans with attractive images are

available in schools to encourage them to be

responsible to put their waste into the trash cans. In

addition, there are several banners which persuade

students to participate in school waste management.

All students involved in the activity

comprehensively understood the implementation of

the concept of the 3Rs in the school environment.

Furthermore, they will implement their knowledge of

waste management in other environments besides

schools, such as family and other environments. The

practice of the recycle, creating grocery bags, phone

stand, and hand soap dispenser, aimed to provide

students the information about waste management by

implementing the principle of the 3Rs (Reuse, reduce,

and recycle). Students understood the concept of the

3Rs by the practice of reusing an unused t-shirts

(reuse), using their own grocery bags (reduce), and

creating new beneficial goods from the unused t-

shirts (recycle).

Practically, this activity helps to reduce

environmental pollution and improve students’

autonomy in maintaining a clean and healthy

environment. Banners, with the slogans which

persuade students to do waste management, are an

effective media since students will see the banners

every day. Thus, students will be encouraged to

always remember school waste management.

Students can also practice their knowledge of waste

management in other places besides the schools, such

as at home. Waste management is an activity which

should be done continually to stop the growth of

waste piles. Waste, which is assumed as unuseful

goods, can be recycled to become beneficial and

invaluable goods.

4 CONCLUSION

The students were trained to manage solid waste by

implementing the concept of Reuse, Reduce and

Recycle (the 3Rs). Students were able to create some

products from solid waste such as grocery bags from

an unused t-shirt, hand soap containers, and phone

stands. Trash cans, with attractive images, which

were located in several strategic areas in the schools,

can improve the participation of students and teachers

to maintain school environment cleanliness.

Moreover, the slogans can encourage students to have

better perception toward waste management.

RECOMENDATION

Students and teachers need to continually improve

their participation in waste management by

implementing the concept of the 3Rs. Trash cans with

attractive pictures can be used to maintain a clean and

healthy school environment by collecting the solid

waste into the trash cans. Students involved in the

activity are expected to retell their knowledge of

waste management with the concept of the 3Rs to

their family, friends, and neighbors. It is also

suggested to school to hold and support the events

related to waste management, such as holding a

competition for recycling unused goods.

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APPENDIX

Improving Environmental Health through Reduce Reuse Recycle (The 3rs) and Trash Cans with Attractive Pictures at High School in Percut

Sei Tuan Sub-district

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