JAKARTA: Efforts to expand upcycling and waste management education among Indonesian schoolchildren are being stepped up to turn discarded materials into useful products with economic value, as plastic reportedly makes up about 20 per cent of the country’s annual waste generation.
Maybank Indonesia Human Capital Director Irvandi Ferizal said the bank is bringing the initiative into schools through a two-year programme targeting about 3,000 students at six primary schools in Greater Jakarta, with 500 employee volunteers also expected to be involved.
"It may not immediately have a major technical impact, but it is about building a culture, a culture of managing waste and teaching children from an early age,” he told reporters at the Maybank Global Corporate Responsibility (CR) Day 2026 event held at SDN 08 Ragunan, a state primary school in South Jakarta, on Saturday.
Under the two-year Cahaya Kasih programme, #BalikBAIK Impact Hubs will be established at the six schools, where students will learn about waste sorting, upcycling and the circular economy, including how discarded materials such as plastic, textile fibres and used printed materials can be processed into useful new products.
The programme was launched in conjunction with the 14th Maybank Global CR Day, held simultaneously across the group’s operations in 18 countries, with more than 15,000 employees participating and over 18,000 community members reached worldwide.
In Indonesia, activities were conducted through 66 Maybank branches, involving 1,800 employees and 300 teachers and reaching 3,250 primary school students. - Bernama
