140 / SDN 13 Ampenan, Mataram, East Nusa Tenggara

373 school children from 13 classes of grades 4-6 of the Elementary School SDN 13 Ampenan taking part in the 2022 Single-Use Plastic Free School program.

About the school

This school lies on the outskirts of Mataram City. About 1 KM from Ampenan beach and approximately 100 meters, it is directly adjacent to the upper reaches of the Jangkuk River. Children who attend SDN 13 Ampenan did observe the habit of throwing waste at residents around the river.
SDN 13 Ampenan is one of the primary schools with the highest number of students in Mataram City, and it is a challenge to control single-use plastic. This school has rows of snack vendors, such as ice and fried food, with single-use plastic wrap. This school produces approximately 15-20 sacks of single-use plastic bags daily.

About the Single-Use Plastic Free School program

Indonesia has seen a sharp increase in plastic pollution over the past years, exposing people to a large number of health and economic risks. There are risks resulting from ingesting microplastics with increasingly contaminated marine food, risks from negative effects on the fishery sector, and also the tourism industry. Being the fourth most populous country with 40% of plastic waste ending up in the ocean, the negative impact goes far beyond local risks: Indonesia is the world’s second-largest source of marine plastic pollution significantly contributing to the global marine litter crisis.

The Single-Use Plastic Free Schools Program was designed to change one of the most critical factors contributing to plastic pollution: plastic habits. Plastic habits describe the typical behavior of using single-use plastic products, like plastic shopping bags, plastic straws, plastic bottles and cups, and more. Plastic habits are one of the biggest sources contributing to the plastic pollution crisis on land and in our oceans.

Together with our partner, we identified effective opportunities to change plastic habits based on environmental education activities for school children. We used the training of teachers to attain sustainable impact and multiplier effects. School children as a target group offer the opportunity for more accessible and more effective results due to early intervention principles. Furthermore, results from the interventions yield benefits for lifelong positive impacts.

In the Single-Use Plastic Free School pilot program, we support schools and teachers in helping school children to change their plastic habits with easy, fun, and interactive eco-education activities spread over 12 lessons. 

Based on the pilot program data from 2021, the school children increased their awareness of plastic pollution risks, learned about alternative solutions, and were empowered to change their plastic habits effectively, reducing their plastic waste by 39% Part of the program is eco-friendly rewards such as refillable water bottle stickers, reusable Tasini keychain/tote bags, and educational comic books. 

The 2022 Single-Use Plastic Free Schools program has been implemented together with our partners Making Oceans Plastic Free. It has been partly funded by SEZ Baden-Württemberg, while the cost of the eco-educational booklets for students (USD 2/student) has been funded by Dyatmika School, through their student fundraising campaign.