The BINTARI Foundation, in collaboration with PT Indofood Sukses Makmur (Indofood), carried out Phase 3 of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Green Warmindo Semarang Program on November 30th, 2023. The activity at Warung Makan Indomie (Warmindo) was attended by 38 Warmindo managers in the Tembalang Cluster and 27 Warmindo managers in the Gunungpati Cluster.
A sustainable business is an activity that maintains efforts to preserve the environmental impact caused by its business. The Green Warmindo Program initiative encourages waste sorting activities, especially noodle packaging. Before the program, Warmindo managers only discarded the noodle's plastic packaging and other waste. This activity is one of the regular monitoring and evaluation of the program that aims to provide appreciation to Warmindo for implementing waste sorting and take suggestions and input for program improvements in the future.
Waste sorting is not only done by women
Warmindo managers are usually men. The waste sorting activity in Warmindo is unique because women rather than men, especially housewives, usually dominate waste management in Indonesia. This was appreciated by BINTARI Foundation, "the Green Warmindo initiative was started in 2016. Since then, Warmindo gradually implemented waste sorting until now in 2023. Thanks to the awareness of Warmindo's Brothers (Akang-Akang)," said Yuliana Rachmawati.
The project evaluates the implementation through 4 waste sorting criteria at Warmindo: 1) cleanliness, 2) waste volume, 3) type of sorting, and 4) consistency. The type of sorting means the waste quantity, such as the type of noodle packaging, PET bottles, cardboard and cans. Cleanliness criteria mean the quality of waste collection, whether the sorted waste is still mixed with other types of waste. Volume criteria focus on the collection of noodle packaging waste type. Meanwhile, consistency is assessed by whether the waste is sorted and ready to be picked up by the waste collector once a week."After we became aware of the benefits of waste sorting, we felt that it was practical, although initially challenging. Since Warmindo carried out the waste sorting, there is less waste to throw away, which helps us keep the shop clean," said one of the Warmindo managers in the Gunungpati Cluster. Several Warmindo have proven to be consistent in collecting packaging waste in detail and clean conditions. Green Warmindo even tries to educate customers to reduce the use of plastic, for example, plastic bags and straws.
Among 65 Warmindos, 13 received appreciation for the main prize, including stainless steel pans, fans, and gas stoves. Prizes for the Warmindo in Tembalang Cluster were given to Warmindo Bintang 6, Forza 2, Bunda 2, Motekar 6, Holic 3, Family 1, Holic 5, and Warmindo SaRa. Meanwhile, prizes for the Warmindo in Gunungpati Cluster were given to Warmindo Berkah/Acim, BMS Banaran, Mamang 5, Rahayu, and Warmindo Meisya 4.
Finally, taking into account the Roadmap Regulations for Reducing Waste by Producers stated in the regulation of Environmental Ministry No. 75 of 2019 (Permen LHK No. 75 tahun 2019), the mechanism for collecting noodle packaging at Warmindo, which continues to be evaluated annually, can be used to develop an EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) system in Semarang City. In this case, the success of EPR implementation lies not only in the producer's waste-collecting commitment but also in ongoing education and assistance efforts to raise consumer awareness of waste sorting (KP).