To help reduce the growing pile of plastic waste that’s harming the environment, the Faculty of Engineering (FT) at Dian Nuswantoro University (Udinus) is turning plastic waste into plastic asphalt for road paving. To collect the plastic waste, FT Udinus has partnered with the RW 2 community in Wonosari Village, Ngaliyan District, Semarang.
Aside from working with the RW 2 community in Wonosari Village, the activity also included a compost-making workshop run by the Udinus Green Campus team. At the event, titled “Udinus Cares for the Environment,” Udinus also gave out around 10 compost bins for residents to use in making compost at home. These compost bins were given in exchange for the plastic bags collected by the residents, which would later be handed over to Udinus.
The compost-making training using compost bins, which lasted for about an hour, was attended by around 40 residents. It was held in an empty yard located in the RW 2 area of Wonosari Village, Ngaliyan District, Semarang.
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Udinus, Dr. Ir. Dian Retno Sawitri, M.T., said that they need a large amount of plastic waste to make asphalt. For building an 800-meter-long road, 5 meters wide, with an asphalt thickness of 5 centimeters, about 2 tons of plastic are needed. In terms of durability, asphalt mixed with plastic is stronger compared to asphalt without plastic.
She explained that working together with local residents is part of FT Udinus’ effort to reduce plastic waste, which is very hard to decompose and has already polluted many oceans. “The type of plastic waste we suggest residents give us is unused plastic bags that can no longer be sold. Normally, regular asphalt gets damaged and develops potholes after about a year, but asphalt mixed with plastic has been used for a year on Gempol Main Road in Sidoarjo, East Java, without any damage,” she said after signing an agreement with the head of RW 2 in Wonosari Village, Ngaliyan District, Semarang.
FT Udinus has also partnered with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) to run the plastic asphalt program. Meanwhile, the Head of Wonosari Village, Utomo, S.E., emphasized that they fully support FT Udinus’ plastic asphalt initiative. He said this is a great program because plastic waste has piled up and damaged the environment. “We are ready to support this program. We have mobilized and coordinated with residents to regularly collect used plastic bags from each household, which we will then hand over to Udinus,” he added.
Udinus’ Head of Public Relations, Agus Triyono, S.Sos., M.Si., praised the program and expressed hope that the community will continue contributing to reducing plastic waste that has been harming the environment. “This is a great program, and we hope the public will actively take part in collecting plastic bags that can be used for road construction,” he concluded. (*Udinus Public Relations/lex/AT/ Photo: Alex Devanda)
