IPB University Students Collaborate with Various Institutions Hold Ciliwung River Cleanup Action

Aquatic Resources Management Student Association (Himasper) Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) IPB University celebrates Ciliwung Care Day (CCD) 2023 by conducting a River Cleanup. This activity was carried out as a form of dedication to residents to pay attention to the environment of the Ciliwung River.

Muhammad Ramdan, Head of the Environmental and Social Division of Himasper IPB University said, this activity was carried out with an approach that still pays attention to the ecosystem, which involves many aspects such as the environment, economy, and society of the Ciliwung River.

"Some of the sessions that will be carried out are coordination with KPC, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), tree planting and waste research, sanitation, waste management, as well as seminars and activity reporting with clean-up actions as mandatory activities in each series," he said a while back.

Ramdan revealed that the total waste collected in the first series of CCD 2023 was 1,084 kg from 61 bags. The time needed to collect this garbage is about 1.5 hours. "These results prove that there is still a lot of waste in the Ciliwung River, dominated by plastic and cloth waste as well as some metals and glass that have been collected," he said.

This action received a positive response from the local community. They hope that this activity will continue with more participants involved. Ramdan said the waste obtained would be sent to the Waste 4 Change house in Bekasi for further treatment.

A KPC representative, Suparno, said that the garbage in the river is not a manipulative result, but comes from upstream for a long time and then gets stuck in some wood and plants as well as rocks. "From just one point the amount of waste that has been collected is quite a lot," he said.

Ciliwung Care Day is one of the work programs of Himasper IPB University in collaboration with the Ciliwung Caring Community (KPC), the Environmental Awareness Community (Sisdarling), and Planet Heroes.

The action also involved other IPB University student associations such as the Aquatic Product Technology Student Association (Himasilkan), the Fishery Resources Utilization Student Association (Himafarin), and the Marine Science and Technology Student Association (Himiteka) as well as the FPIK Student Executive Board (BEM). (Ihsan/Rz) (IAAS/HAP)