From Trash to Treasure: Indonesia’s Social Enterprise Empowers the Poor through Waste Recycling

JAKARTA: The shelves of the three-story workshop in a suburb of Jakarta were filled with colorful bags and laptop bags.

Upon closer inspection, one would realize that they were actually made from discarded detergent containers and used billboard materials.

Near the store’s entrance were burlap sacks from a coffee bean importer, waiting to be cut to size and sewn into shopping bags. Inside the workshop, workers filled clear plastic cushions with shredded multi-layer plastics that are notoriously difficult to recycle.

For the past 16 years, XSProject has recycled waste into stylish and colorful fashion items that have attracted international clients and members of the Jakarta expat community. It produces more than 3,000 items a month, finding new life for waste that would otherwise go to landfills.

XSProject CEO Retno Hapsari said the company started as a community empowerment program for a foundation of the same name. It was founded by an American expat named Ann Wizer in 2004.

“We were looking for ways to reduce litter and help impoverished garbage collectors,” the 58-year-old told CNA.

“There was waste like multilayer packaging that they couldn’t sell to recycling plants. We told them to bring us this package. We clean them and make products with these materials. In this way, we hope to reduce this type of waste and provide additional income to garbage collectors ”.

XSProject’s first product line featured colorful tote bags made from discarded soap and detergent.

READ: Two women entrepreneurs turn difficult-to-recycle food packaging into cobblestones in Indonesia

“We continue to think about what other types of waste exist. We are not limiting ourselves to a specific type of garbage, ”he said.

Today XSProject has numerous product lines made from a wide range of materials that would otherwise end up in trash cans and pollute the environment.

They even do custom orders like guitar cases and golf bags.

EMPOWERING THE POOR

Hapsari said that she is simply a marketer and spokesperson for XSProject and insisted that the creative brains behind the products are the seven workers employed by the company.

“Some of our workers were garbage collectors or have garbage collector fathers and mothers,” he said. “Some of them couldn’t read when they joined. We pay for your education. We gave them new skills by enrolling them in sewing courses.

“Now, they can just look at a material and see what the final product will look like. They are the ones who mix the colors, mix the materials and create the designs ”.

And the designs proved to be a hit with XSProject clients.

“We get suggestions and ideas from customers on what we should produce next. It is important to listen to them, ”he said.

XSProject now produces everything from face masks, coasters, aprons to baskets, purses and bags. It also attracted the attention of resellers and bulk buyers in countries such as Singapore and Australia.

The company is now working with independent tailors to meet growing demands and improve the livelihoods of tailors.

XSProject now earns between $ 35,000 and $ 70,000 a month, the earnings of which go back to the foundation, which provides donations and pays for the education of garbage collectors and their families.

After 15 years of being a mere program of a foundation, XSProject became a commercial company in 2019.

CREATING AWARENESS

Around 85,000 tons of plastic in Indonesia is dumped into the environment each year, according to government figures, making the country the second worst plastic polluter in the world after China.

The logos of the brands responsible for this waste appear prominently on some of XSProject’s products to pressure companies to start thinking about alternative ways of packaging and selling their products.

READ: Meet the Indonesian artist who turns household waste into shadow puppets

“I will be happy if one day there will be no more waste to recycle into a product. It means that our work here is done, ”he said.

Hapsari said she also wants to inspire others to start recycling the waste they see around them.

“We are not the first to recycle waste. But many of these companies fail because they do not have a viable business plan. They don’t know how to market their products, ”he said.

XSProject was successful because it has access to the expat community in Jakarta, thanks to its founder. “Ninety-five percent of the people who buy our products are expatriates, because they are the ones who care the most about our mission,” Hapsari said.

But Hapsari hoped this would eventually change. XSProject is working with schools to teach students about the importance of reducing and recycling waste so that future generations come to appreciate what the company is doing.

READ: Comment: Plastic waste is a serious problem that bans on plastic bags alone cannot solve

“The students also help sell the products and the proceeds go to the foundation,” he said. “One school even provided their students with laptop bags that they bought from us. Therefore, students become aware that we can give new life to the things that we throw away and take for granted ”.

“I realized that what we are doing is a drop in the ocean. But we have to do something about our waste problem. We have to start somewhere. If we all do our bit, we can do a lot, “he said.