PONTIAN: Despite its small number of pupils, SK Kampong Baharu has made a huge impact on the environment through a sustainability project that uses fly larvae to recycle organic waste.
Teacher Nuraini Roslan said the school, with only about 70 pupils, kickstarted the project in August last year as a way to manage its own food waste.
“The school is located in a rural area and falls outside the Pontian Municipal Council’s jurisdiction.
“So, we do not have access to solid waste management and public cleansing services provided by the local council and have to find our own way to manage our waste.
“After doing some research, we found out about black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), often used in composting to break down food scraps,” she said in an interview.
Nuraini, who teaches Science, Arabic and Islamic Education, said one teacher later found a BSFL facility in Pekan Nanas.
“We went there for a tour and learned about the facility’s decomposition method before trying it ourselves at the school.
“Since then, all food waste from our canteen is dumped into a large bucket filled with BSFL to be turned into compost, which is later used as fertiliser for the plants at our school.
“Sometimes, teachers and other school staff, such as our security officers and cleaners, also bring their food waste for the BSFL to break down,” she added.
The school produces an average of 6kg of compost from the waste each month. Each BSFL cycle lasts about two months, allowing them to continue producing compost from food waste.
“Once the BSFL reach the end of their cycle, we put them through a dehydration process that turns them into animal feed, which we can then sell to the public.
“We sell it for about RM10 per packet, and most of our customers are livestock farmers from the village,” she said.
She added that the school’s Year Six pupils, who number fewer than 10, are the ones tasked with carrying out the project.
“This year, we have also upgraded the project to include a smart detector that can send notifications to our phones when the BSFL need water or more food,” said Nuraini.
The project has earned the school recognition, including a Gold Award at the Virtual International Innovation for Climate and Ecosystem Resilience competition organised by the Institute of Ecosystem Science Borneo at Universiti Putra Malaysia Sarawak.
