Waste Management Literacy and Sustainable City in Bandung,

Indonesia: A Netnography Research

Siswantini

, Ulani Yunus

, Gayes Mahestu

Marketing Communication Program, Communication Department, Faculty of Economics & Communication, Bina

Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Keywords: Management, Netnography, BPJS.

Abstract: Recently, zero waste city is a popular movement in waste management. This concept is challenging since the

concept requires holistic implementation of waste management dimension. One of the challenging dimension

in waste management practice for the country which has a large number of a population such as Indonesia is

community participation. Furthermore, the very first step in raising community participation in

environmentally sound of waste management is to understand their preferences, concerns, and behavior. The

existing of WhatsApp has provided new opportunities for the development of various models of community

participation in waste management, as developed in the city of Bandung. This paper aims to describe the

activity of waste management literacy conduct in BJBS WhatsApp group. The Forum believes that zero waste

city is the first step towards to the sustainable city. The conversation analysis using netnography methodology

shown that the making meaning of zero waste management represented by the level of participant involvement

in the discussion. Additionally, the finding also found that the interaction among participant, represent the

waste management literacy, through the exchange of messages.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the goals to be achieved from sustainable

development goals is a sustainable city and

community. Zero waste city concept promote the

sustainable waste management system which needs

community participation. Recently, the concept of

zero waste city is widely implementing in numbers of

cities around the world. In 2016, Indonesia had

launched the program of “Zero Waste Movement” to

reach the condition of zero waste in 2020. Designing

the zero waste is very challenging, it is referred to as

the dimension of waste problems itself. There are

dimension of waste problem from economic issues

(Morrissey & Browne, 2004) social and culture

(Marshall & Farahbakhsh, 2013; Pauline & Froztick.,

2009; Zotos, Karagiannidis, Zampetoglou,

Malamakis, Antonopoulos, Kontogianni &

Tchobanoglous G 2009; Chung & Lo, 2004; Gille,

2001), to the political issues (Marshall &

Farahbakhsh, 2013). Numbers of researches showed

that the success of waste management

implementation supported by community

participation (Tukahirwa, Mol & Oosterveer, 2010),

media exposure (Chan, 1998; Tremblay, 2013) and

the system itself (Marshall & Farahbakhsh, 2013).

Therefore, zero waste condition should recover all

possible problem in every dimension. One of the

challenging dimension in waste management practice

for the country which has a large number of

population such as Indonesia is community

participation. Furthermore, the very first step in

raising community participation in environmentally

sound of waste management is to understand their

preferences, concerns and behaviour (Chung & Lo,

2004)

In 2005, Bandung areas, faced catastrophic waste

management since the biggest landfill collapsed and

killed hundreds of people. Consequently, tons of solid

waste could not be transferred to the landfill, then the

city faced health environmental problem, polluted by

the methane gas from the solid waste which

accumulated throughout the city. The moment had

forced the national government to issued was

management regulations, followed by provinces and

cities and/or districts in the country. The moment then

memorized as waste national awareness days, all

stakeholders of waste management take a

collaborative action to increase the quality of

regulation implementations. Currently, Bandung

488

Siswantini, ., Yunus, U. and Mahestu, G.

Waste Management Literacy and Sustainable City in Bandung, Indonesia: A Netnography Research.

DOI: 10.5220/0010019700002917

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Sciences, Laws, Arts and Humanities (BINUS-JIC 2018), pages 488-497

ISBN: 978-989-758-515-9

generates 1,500 to 1,600 tons of waste a day.

Unfortunately, only 75% transported to landfill, and

the rest still accumulate in TPS (temporary storage

area). The composition; 63% is domestic waste or

food scraps and 23 percent are recyclable and /or

reused and rest is residual. Therefore, if the local

government has a system to process food waste, it

will reduce the burden of transporting waste to the

landfill. Regrettably, there is no supporting system to

process the rest.

In 2014, Bandung local government launched the

zero waste area program. In alliance with the group

of individual’s namely Forum Bandung Juara Bebas

Sampah/BJBS, they run the program in 20 urban

villages. The purpose of the program is to bring waste

management close to the source. Furthermore, in

order to keep the program maintainable, the forum

bears a series of activities that support zero waste city

development. One of it is managing online discussion

forum through WhatsApp group. Since the first

introduced in 2013, the forum has created any number

of programs and collaboration of zero waste practice.

In the other side, the discussion forum afforded to the

learning process of zero waste practice among

participant. Regarding to Searle (2003) the learning

process in accordance with a literacy event. In this

context, literacy sees as social construction and

histories that cannot be generalized to various

cultures, because every culture has its own

uniqueness. Adopted the concept of literacy event

form Heat (1983) who defined as interactional events

which involve, reading, writing and interpreting and

interacting around the piece of writing, relevant with

the interaction process in the BJBS discussion forum.

Besides, Heat argued that literacy event typically

occurs in schools, in a home and, in the community

include in social media, as virtual community.

The literacy event in the BJBS WhatsApp group

focus on the zero waste strategy, sustainable waste

management, and other ideas of zero waste city

development. Therefore, the event consistent with the

waste management literacy in social perspective.

Generally, the discussion ensues almost every day,

starts with the questions from one of the participants

that need more information about zero waste practice.

Consequently, if the issues categories as urgent, the

discussion can take many days until the solution of

the problem encountered. Moreover, this paper aims

to describe the activity of waste management literacy

conduct in BJBS WhatsApp group, which provide an

essential information, idea and/or suggestion for the

government and other stakeholder of waste

management. Furthermore, this paper could be used

as a locus of sustainable city development toward

community zero waste life style.

2 ZERO WASTE CITY

PRACTICE IN BANDUNG

The zero waste concept was introduced by Dr. Paul

Palmer who developed his research to solve chemical

waste problems. The zero waste system, required all

materials to be in an optimum level of consumption

(Palmer, 2004) no material is wasted (Murphy &

Pincetl, 2013; Mason, Brooking, Oberender, Harford

& Horsley, 2003; Colon & Fawcett, 2006).

Moreover, the zero waste city is a city that one

hundred percent implement a recycling system

(Zaman & Lehmann, 2011; Fujita & Hill, 2007)

suggest that solid waste should be handled since the

product has not become waste, and this is related to

the existence of system, regulation, institutional,

financing, and public participation.

Zero waste practice in Bandung started with

applying the concept of zero waste area program that

is a place where the waste management system is

conducted independently by the community. The

program carrying out five principles, namely citizen

involvement, independence, efficiency,

environmental preservation, and integrity. This

system is planned, developed, operated, managed,

capitalized, and owned by the community and

endorsed and supported by the Government of

Bandung (BPLH, 2015). Conversely, the concept of

zero waste developed by the government of Bandung

emphasizes the independence of citizens in waste

management. In 2017, there are 20 urban villages

which have implemented the concept of zero waste

lifestyle. In the model areas, the community is

assisted by selected NGO, that responsible for

supporting the program implementation.

2.1 Waste Management Literacy

Generally, literacy defines as the capacity of human

beings to apply their knowledge and skills on specific

issues and conduct analysis, and communicate

effectively the views, solutions proposed and

interpretations of problems in various situations

(OECD, 2010). Since the term of literacy relates to

the context, such as financial literacy for a financial

issue or environmental literacy for learning process in

raising knowledge of the environment. Solid waste is

one of the most complex environmental problems as

it produces by individuals, but the final process of the

Waste Management Literacy and Sustainable City in Bandung, Indonesia: A Netnography Research

489

materials becomes the responsibility of the

government. However, community participation has

an important role in accomplishing integrated waste

management. In order to raise awareness and

community participation, waste management literacy

is needed, so it encourages a person to have

knowledge and skills in managing waste.

Therefore, the activities of literacy,

communication, and interpretation of the

environment are interrelated activities. Heat (1983)

and Breen (1994) mentions that literary events

generally occur in the classroom, but the practice is

reflected in activities within the home or in the public

sphere or in the community (Baron, Bruce & Nunan,

2002). Along with the development of information

technology, where the internet becomes a space that

allows distance education, then there also

environmental/ecological literacy activities can take

place. This concept is in line with what Mocker and

Spear (1982) have proposed: self-directed learning or

self-learning where self, in view of Okamoto,

Kayama, Cristea and Seki (2001) refers to

autonomous behavior for both individuals and groups

who agree to study together.

3 NETNOGRAPHY IN

ECOLOGICAL LITERACY

RESEARCH

Since introduced in 1990, netnography was widely

used in various kind of researches on online-based

consumer behavior, marketing, and education

(Kozinets, 2010). Moreover, Sandlin (2007) use the

techniques in exploring the process of created

lifestyle meaning from the magazine. Accordingly,

the methodology can be used to describe the

construction and the meaning of participant roles in

supporting Bandung Zero waste city development.

The discussion in BJBS Forum in WhatsApp group

takes place intense every day with the main theme

around schemes, action plans, and collaborations in

encouraging the building of sustainable waste

management systems. In order to understand the

ways’ discussion participant construct and making

meaning of their role building sustainable waste

management system, through their participation in the

discussion, the methodology of netnography was

used. Below is the explanation of how the technique

is used as well as a brief presentation of relevant

finding.

3.1 Entree

The BJBS discussion forum is a closed group that is

specifically followed by individuals who have an

interest and concern in solving Bandung waste

management problem. Consequently, to be a part of

the forum, the participant should meet with the

criteria: active direct either indirect in supporting the

Bandung zero waste city development. The

researchers have the opportunity to become a

participant in the forum, as previously actively

promoting community behavior change in waste

handling, in the community participation group

discussions. Further, the coordinator of the group

provides the recommendation to join the BJBS

discussion forum.

3.2 Data Collection

The investigation of this paper from BJBS members

in WhatsApp group. The observation started from

August 2015 - December 2015 which is the initial

period of strengthening the concept of zero waste city

among forum members. During this period the

conversation is then copied and paste into the word

processor and then transferred to the qualitative data

analysis NVivo. Archived post in that period reached

4273 posts covering 10 Main topics about sustainable

waste management, especially in realizing zero waste

and sustainable city. The BJBS Forum is a closed-

ended discussion forum whose members are

selectively selected so that by 2017 there were 96

participants from solid waste practitioners,

government representatives, local NGOs, academics,

individuals engaged in waste management and waste

processing businesses. Finally, the researcher kept

reflective field notes, in which ongoing analysis

occurred through participant comments (Bogdan &

Biklen, 2003) and researcher memos (Glaser & Straus

1967).

3.3 Analysis and Interpretation

Using Kozinet's approach to conversations in WA

groups then export to qualitative data analysis, and

categories according to the need to answer the

research questions (Sadlin, 2007). Then the data is

analyzed using constant comparative techniques

(Glaser & Straus, 1967). Furthermore, the data are

grouped into categories according to research

questions that intend to explore zero waste city

construction among members of the discussion forum

and the meaning of their participation role in realizing

that goal. There are two types of categories: level of

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490

involvement in the forum and consumption of activity

and message that represents the construction of zero

waste city.

3.4 Finding

3.4.1 Waste Management Literacy Process

The BJBS forum was initiated by a group of an

alumnus of Bandung Institute of Technology which

was later supported by Alumni Association.

Furthermore, the development of this forum also

contains individuals from the government, NGO,

academics and waste handling practitioner. Since its

establishment in 2013, the forum has conducted

various activities such as monthly meetings,

discussion forums in WhatsApp groups, and

implementing knowledge management. Several

collaborative activities with various parties have

resulted in the program of BebasSampah.ID (BSID) a

web-based program in promoting information and big

data of waste handling activities in Bandung areas,

escorting the preparation of Bandung waste

management master-plan, encouraging the

development of zero waste area program and

implementing a bio-digester program and various

other activities.

This section reports findings from the discussion

in WA group BJBS forum and, to illustrate the kinds

of findings that can be generated from netnographic

research. The discussion forum in the WhatsApps

group plays an important role in raising knowledge,

information, and skill of the group member, and as

media in discussion the action plan of zero waste city.

Through the analysis found that almost all participant

categories as insiders, and only two participants’

categories as devotees. The insiders represent the

participant that have strong ties to the group and to

the consumption activity and tend to be long-standing

and frequently referenced members (Kozinets, 2010).

They frequently act as discussion initiator, they post

question, opinion or suggestion to the hot issue in the

practice of waste handling. The conversation shows

that there are four active insiders include; forum

leader, waste management practitioners, academics

and government representation. They take a turn in

questioning, post an opinion and/or suggestion for the

government or other participants. The devotees are

the participant that have strong consumption interests,

but few attachments to the online group (Kozinets,

2010). Actually, the role of insider and devotees on

these group are alternate, conferring to the theme

being discussed.

The messages exchanged during the discussion,

usually based on field situation. Nevertheless, some

discussions were made because of the need for

information from other members. For example, when

there are participants who want to know more about

biodigester, then he/she will post the questions in the

forum. Furthermore, if there are other participants

who know it, it will immediately provide information.

Often, from the initial information, it will develop

into a discussion of wider waste management

strategies, especially in the realization of a zero waste

city. The daily discussion theme, states by the

initiator, frequently by the member of the core team.

In the period of analysis found that there is a study

cycle where the participant. The interaction among

participant through their message represent the study

cycle, there are a reception, integration, and

expression and review the communication-based own

written word (Malcolm & Rochecouste, 1998). The

reception takes place when the participant reading the

message and decide whether they participate in the

discussion or not. The integration occurs when

participant comprehends to the discussion materials

and, following up with an action or confirm the action

by sending the photo of their activities. This taken

action or confirm action is the third step of the cycle

which involved of what has been learned, namely

expression. The expression also can be seen in the

collaboration among participant in enlarging the area

of zero waste place. Finally, there is a review stage,

where the participant considers the evaluation which

has been discussing of what they have expressed. This

involves, for example asking about the relevant

interpretation of zero waste indicators they had been

extant in the area of implementation, or receiving and

responding to the feedback given directly by

discussion initiator.

The waste management literacy model that takes

place in this online discussion forum is in line with

self-directed learning, in which self, as directed by

Okamoto et.al. (2001), represents autonomous

behavior in determining its involvement in the

learning process. Additionally, the learning process,

as stated at the beginning, uses an extra-textual

framing where participants compare and add

information received from other sources.

Communication action among participants is based

on the meaning of the third model proposed by

Blummer (1969), that the meaning of symbols is a

social product formed by agreement between the

parties interacting, and in this case, the interaction

between participants. Accordingly, the Social media

as a medium of interaction is treated by its users such

as face-to-face media, so non-verbal communication

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491

that occurs in the face-to-face replaced by emoticons

or emotional icons whose meaning can only be

formed according to the background of the

participants' knowledge and experiences on the

themes under discussion.

3.4.2 The Construction of the Meaning of

Zero Waste City

The second categories of the conversation is the

making meaning of zero waste city through a message

exchanged in the discussion. According to the results

of conversation analysis, it appears that the discussion

that occurred in this forum not only as a medium of

collaboration and communication but also as a

medium for education, this forum becomes a class

representation where the members interact and

various skills. Moreover, in this section will be

presented the results of the conversational analysis

with the netnography techniques, and classifies the

results of the conversations in the theme: waste

management innovation; education and collaboration

in realizing zero waste city as a representation of the

level of environmental literacy.

Making Meaning of Waste Management

Innovation.

Referring to the waste management law

in Indonesia innovation means to efforts to develop

new findings or improve the quality of existing waste

management models, especially in reducing and

waste handling. An innovation of waste management

to solve the waste problem in Bandung city,

absolutely necessary. Moreover, this innovation is not

only related to technology but also about systems and

components of the system as a whole, that's what

researchers gathered from the various conversations

that occurred in the forum BJBS. One of the

innovations that researchers have observed is

reflected in the conversation of August 22, 2015, that

discuss waste management transparency. The

initiator post a suggestion about what needs to

provide in creating waste management transparency,

she suggests a list of the activities and asking other

ideas from the forum. At the end of a conversation,

the forum resulted in 13 ideas to be offered to local

government in supporting waste management

transparency. Table 1, figure out the discussion of

waste management transparency idea:

Table 1: Discussion example of waste management

transparency at August 15, 2016

Account Messages

CTR - Initiator A discussion tomorrow at Eco

Camp will discuss transparency

related to the solid waste

system. What is the information

that needs to be supplied by the

government, or also information

that can be provided by

collaborative transparency? But

broking information, just like

that, won't effectively make

automatic changes. Can you

lose the burden of the

information provider (the term

is the word)? So that,

transparency really works ...

you need to understand first

what key information is really

needed. Key criteria, meaning

that the info actually triggers a

certain action (action cycle).

For example below, which info

do you think is important for

friends to transparently:

The transportation schedule

behind the garbage truck?

What is the monthly retribution

fee?

Where is the TPS?

What is it?

RIS

(SWM specialist)

There is a lack of transportation

schedule at each polling station

So people can know, if there

isn't, then don't bring garbage to

the polling station

JRSN

(Initiator of

BJBS Forum)

The data in community group

level

DVD

(NGO

representation)

The key now is how all of the data

is transparently interpreted so that

it triggers community

participation in community

interaction and waste

management (government and

other parties).

How, for example, between a

dealer and waste sources,

coordination

occurs which further

increases recyclability. For

example, when the

hearing was

held in the park it was quite a lot

of rec

clable waste ...

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how could each park be

connected directly to those who

needed

supplies? How does the

connection occur between the

processing and

utilization of

processing? For example, this

map should facilitate

synchronization of biodigester

placement with urban farming

locations that require liquid

(hydroponic) fertilizer.

Synchronization

between

biodigester and urban farming

programs through government

CSR, and mentoring programs

Furthermore, alongside with the waste management

transparency in the period of observation found that

there are four other innovation ideas includes: plastic

bag diet promotion, waste bank management in

school, and a biodigester regulation.. Table 2, is the

example of discussion about plastic bag diet:

Table 2: Discussion example of plastic bag diet, at August

27, 2016.

Message

HN – Initiator

(Communication

specialist)

Let's reduce the use of plastic

bags (support with series of

photograph from the event –

Writer)

(NGO)

Rhy, the ending can't get the

feeling of reducing the plastic

bag

RHY

(NGO)

Agree Bu. Related to waste is

very uncontrolled, even the

booth next door (but not notice

which school, obviously

adiwiyata), buy food in

Styrofoam :(Event follow-up

the event, a joint team will be

formed (according to local

regulation 17/2012) to ensure

that local regulations are

running.

Hopefully it can be formalized

in the form of a mayor's decree

Sorry for the one who was

present at the event, the

program not yet

#zerowaste and #goodfestival

Mrs. TN, I hope you are willing

as the Ambassador of

housewife for

#DietKantongPlastik, we will

schedule it for a photo session

he he he.

CN Provide an article for a

newspaper, opinion /reader,

hehe. Create an activities and

collaborating are not easy. It

easy to create a comments

# lesson learnt

JRSN

It’s ok, lesson learn and declare

of the lack

Evaluation to the critical of

evaluation of the critical point

of the difficulty

What made Rhy and the team's

efforts difficult and

unsuccessful, made the zero

waste event?

The budget, Ignorance, is not

supported by other committee

commitments, or what?

TN There should have been a

challenge for the women who

came, to shop without plastic

bags. It must be far more

striking. And then, asking them

to tell us about their experience,

the show was at the mall

As a result, the range of waste management

innovation can be categories as social engineering

and technical engineering. The Social engineering in

the forum discussions can be seen from the issues

raised, were further offered of community

engagement and development of waste management

regulations in social perspective. Accordingly, the

promotion of plastic bag diet and waste bank in

school can be classified as social engineering, since

furthermost of the participant suggest creating a

promotion with other community involvement. The

innovation as if implemented then expect will be a

motivation for the emergence of behaviour change in

handling plastic waste. Housewives, who were able to

control the use of plastic bags from the source,

promote as an ambassador in reducing the plastic bag

usage. Accordingly, if every housewife can influence

1-2 people around to reduce the usage of plastic bags,

it can create a massive impact on the scale of the city

Additionally, the waste bank management in

school, categories as social engineering as suggested

by participant the waste bank is one of the community

participation models in waste reduction. The

discussion on waste bank continues until the question

arises about why it should be named "waste bank".

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493

The discussion ended with a scheme to find another

appropriate name other than the waste bank, or other

accepted name. However, the model of the waste

bank has regulated in governent regulations, therefore

the name of the waste bank could be changed to

another name. Waste bank in Indonesia, categories as

one of the requirements to the city/district to be

nominated in an environmental national award,

consequently, although some of the people disagree

with the idea, the program should be a part of a city

waste management system.

In addition to social innovation, BJBS participants

also discussed the innovation of waste processing

technology and the final waste processing site. A

variety of alternative waste processing technologies

are also discussed. Interestingly light discussion

themes are always associated with the issue of waste,

such as when commemorating the hero's day some

members share an idea how to commemorate the

hero's day by keeping in touch with the issue of waste.

In other words, all the discussions in this forum

cannot be separated from the goal of realizing the

vision of zero waste city, through community

participation, decentralization, and integration of

activities among the activists of the waste handling

and the government. The themes of discussion

categories as technological engineering in waste

management.

Finally, the making meaning of innovation in zero

waste city development on BJBS discussion forum

was conveyed by the members involved in

discussions in accordance with their competencies.

Additionally, referring to Kozinet, the characteristics

of insiders can be seen from the many opinions,

suggestions or criticisms presented on the theme

discussed (2010). These insiders are those who have

discussion initiatives or highly technical and social

competence on waste management. Moreover, the

competence of insiders can also be synonymous with

individuals with high environmental literacy as

proposed by Roth (2010) that is operational

environmental literacy, in which members of forums

have extensive knowledge of human interaction with

their environment, routinely evaluates the impact of

human actions on the environment. They also actively

collect and evaluate information about the

environment and waste problems, decision-making

challenge and organize advocacy, and are willing to

invest for the environment, and consistently

implement a zero waste lifestyle.

Education And Collaboration In Comprehending

Zero Waste City. One of the themes containing

educational elements is the discussion of biopore

holes. Biopore hole is one of the required concepts in

the accompanied area, as a pilot area of a zero waste

area. Moreover, the discussion initiates with a

member's question about the capacity of the biopore

hole. This question is answered by one of the

coordinators who have an experience. Additionally,

the discussions thrive on other waste reduction

themes, especially for the reduction of non-organic

waste. The messages containing educational content

and information are supported by the presentation of

photographs of practical activities in the field.

In addition to waste management issues, the

discussion forum also discussed other theme related

to waste topics, such as excessive water suctioning.

The messages that are not directly related to waste

management as well as education part for other

members who do not have technical competence in

the areas discussed. The educational content in this

forum is represented in messages that contain new

information that raising knowledge and member

awareness to act in developing zero-waste city.

However, although members of this group are

individuals who have the social and technical

competence of waste problem, there is still some

information that is new and not shared by other

members before. For example information about the

development of waste management regulation in the

Philippines which or waste management in Depok.

The information could become an input to the

government as a strategy of integrated waste

management. Such schemes outside the forum often

impact to a real collaboration among forum members

and the government or fellow forum members.

Generally, educational information is generally a

critical thought of members belonging to the category

of insiders, where the messages they make are

referred to by other members. Such as the exposure

of plastic waste contaminating the sea or refill system

for various household needs.

As result the construction of meaning of zero waste

city in the BJBS discussion forum could be

summarize as figure 1:

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Figure 1. The result of the construction of meaning of zero

waste city in the BJBS discussion forum.

3.5 Discussion

The zero waste city discourse discussed in the BJBS

forum is a visionary discourse, as suggested by

Zaman in various studies (2011, 2013, 2015).

According to Zaman (2011), zero waste city is a city

that performs 100% recycling and reprocessing of

various waste types. The public participation

contributes a suggestion for evaluations at each stage

of the existing waste management as well as to

environmental health policy. The discussion result

has shown that individuals involved in the BJBS

discussion forum, intentionally want to actualize the

vision of Bandung zero waste city. The creation of

this forum cannot be separated from the process of its

members' perceptions of environmental conditions,

especially about the waste problem. The participants'

perceptions are reflected in messages that are

exchanged on each group's dialog that is not separated

from environmental problems, especially about

waste. While the construction process of the zero

waste discourse that took place in the discussion

forum is in line with the concept of environmental

communication proposed by Milstein (2009) which

suggests that environmental communication as a

social process that has the power to construct,

produce and facilitate human relationships with

nature. Practically what is discussed in the BJBS

forum is aimed at facilitating the understanding of

participants in handling environmental and

sustainable waste issues.

Moreover, the results of the analysis of the

discussion process at the BJBS online forum found

the existence of the members' categories based on the

opinions and/or the proposals conveyed in the

conversation. The categories insiders and devotees of

group discussion participant represent the

homogenous of the group member, however every

member still benefits from the discussion theme. The

ideas construction of zero waste city, represent by the

message categories in innovation and education and

collaboration. The innovation ideas, are noteworthy

with the regulation of Bandung waste management

regulation which offer the opportunity to community

participation. Furthermore, the education and

collaboration among participants ensued by the

message exchange and, its accordance with the

literacy event. Consequently, the WhatsApp

discussion forum managed by BJBS converted as

media of sharing information and raising knowledge,

awareness and action, as well as in the classroom or

seminar activity. Therefore, this online forum could

become a new model of environmental education,

mediated by an information technology.

Figure 1, describes how the participants'

perceptions based on their competencies apply the

concept of environmental communication in

perceiving zero waste discourse. Both the initiators of

discussion (insider) and discussion participants

(devotees, minglre's), have the right to cast opinions,

suggestions, and questions about creating a zero

waste city idea. Among the two categories of

participants during the discussion there was also an

educational process that ran in the corridor of extreme

framing.

The diagram also shows that interpersonal

relationships between forum participants represent

the role model interaction where each member is

required to play a role in accordance with his position

in reality or position in their institution. In interacting

through social media WhatsApp, competency

categories also appear namely technical

competencies and social competencies based on the

opinions they make. Technical competence and social

competence can appear on both sides, initiators, and

participants. These technical competencies and social

competencies do not change for each participant, the

changes only on participants position, from insider to

Technical

Competency

Social

Competency

Opinion,

suggestion,

question

Initiator

(Insiders)

Participants

(Devotess,

minglers)

Natural

Opinion,

suggestion,

question

Environmental

Communication

Zero-waste

Discourse

Perception

Operational

environmental

literacy

Operational

environmental

literacy

Waste Management Literacy and Sustainable City in Bandung, Indonesia: A Netnography Research

495

participant and vice versa, according to the theme

discussed.

Furthermore, the finding show that the zero waste

city concept serving as a holistic vision to build a

sustainable city. The zero waste concept, create value

added from waste (waste as a resource). As such it

aims to separate waste into a high quality of waste

streams for re-use, recovery and recycling. The

concept require an active cooperation among

stakeholder, and the discussion forum could become

a locus of a resilient joint cooperation development.

4 CONCLUSION

This paper presents the literacy event conducted in

WhatsApp BJBS discussion forum that analysed with

netnography techniques. This method is commonly

used for online research marketing, however, is open

to another on online communities research. The

communities formed in the WhatsApp group are

generally homogeny and are often familiar with each

other. Nevertheless, some communities with specific

goals, often formed since there is a common interest,

although among its members do not know each other.

The BJBS WhatsApp group has a special purpose to

realizing Bandung zero waste city. The Members of

this group originally homogeny alumni of ITB, on the

development of this community consists of people

with different background, then have the same vision

and mission in supporting the development of

Bandung zero waste city.

The construction of zero waste discourse of online

discussion forums managed by BJBS is one of social

innovation form in handling solid waste problems.

The construction of zero waste discourse at the forum

is built on suggestions, opinions or questions from

participants who are the initiators of the discussion.

These questions are responded to by other

participants with opinions, suggestions or other

questions that lead to the development of a broader

discussion theme. The forum participants have the

autonomy to choose to participate or not. This

condition is in line with the concept of self-directed

learning that upholds the autonomous behaviour of

individuals in representing themselves. The

participants who are involved in the discussion can be

classified into two types: the insiders or members

whose opinions, suggestions and criticism are

referred to by other members, especially for a practice

of zero waste lifestyle in their daily activities.

Secondly, devotees, are members who have a keen

interest in the themes discussed. This position is not a

permanent thing but alternates according to the theme

being discussed. Each member in this forum

contributes through opinions, and criticisms to

comprehend the zero waste city in accordance with

their respective competencies. The member

competency can be grouped into social competence

and technical competence. The Social competence is

seen from the messages that always lead to social

innovation to encourage community participation,

while technical competence is involved from

messages that emphasize technical and technological

aspects in solving waste problems. Furthermore, the

theme of the discussion as a whole can be categorized

based on the theme of innovation and education and

collaboration, the theme category is reflected from

the messages exchanged among participants. The

zero waste discourse in this forum is packed into

extra-textual framing, wherein the message of the

discussion initiator is used as a reference to develop

the discussion in a broader direction, and it produces

innovation, education or collaboration. The

construction of zero waste discourse also illustrates

the diversity of symbolic interactionism

implementation on a macro scale where self-groove,

interaction and interpretation are represented.

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