IMCD Indonesia Launched Green Smart Leaders with YCAB Foundation

In 2023, #IMCDIndonesia launched the STEM4Youth programme with the YCAB foundation. ?This year, we initiated the Green Smart Leaders project with high school students under the STEM4Youth programme. This initiative featured innovative recycling projects developed by the students and a talk show to increase awareness of sustainable living among the youth. This event took place on the same day as Earth Day, 22 April 2024, at Bina Insan Mandiri School, West Jakarta.

This event was attended by Adriaan Palm , Deputy Head of Mission at the Dutch Embassy Indonesia , Diding Wahyudin, Head of West Jakarta Education Sub-agency Region II, and Adelia Sia , Managing Director IMCD Indonesia. They also gave inspiring opening remarks alongside two principals from schools that participated in this programme, Bina Insan Mandiri School and Al-Huda School. 250 students also came to witness the creation of their schoolmates.

Indonesia, being one of the largest populations in the world, faces a significant challenge with waste management. It may lead to severe environmental consequences such as climate change. A possible solution to this problem is the 3R method, which stands for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The Green Smart Leader project aims to promote environmental awareness among young students and empower them to create marketable products using recycled materials.

Students who participated in the Green Smart Leaders initiative received training on waste management, sustainable living, and how to be social entrepreneurs. Afterwards, they were guided to identify environmental problems and develop innovative recycling projects as potential solutions and demonstrated innovative recycling projects with a focus on creativity and positive impact. The selected group projects were showcased in the exhibition.

The project showcase aimed to introduce and present the results of projects achieved by various groups from two schools that have received Green-preneurship training. This event highlights achievements, innovations, and advancements in various recycling projects. A total of 20 group projects from two schools participated in the event, where they presented their project results to the judges.

Three group projects were awarded as the winners of the Green Smart Leaders. The first winner was a group project that created an aquarium station and aquaponic system using single-use water gallon waste as the primary ingredient. The goal of this project was to reduce the amount of water gallon waste while providing an alternative medium for planting without using soil. The second winner was a group project that made hangers from ice cream sticks and cardboard boxes to reduce waste while providing a solution for hanging clothes or accessories. The third winner was a group project that made scented candles from used cooking oil to reduce the amount of used cooking oil waste. Each winner received funds to further develop their project.

“I want to congratulate IMCD Indonesia and YCAB Foundation for initiating this programme, and hopefully, more young people will come together to create a meaningful impact starting from this neighbourhood, their neighbourhood, their community, and the whole world,” said Adriaan Palm, the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Indonesia, in his opening remarks at the IMCD Green Smart Leaders Exhibition and Competition.

As we face climate change and other environmental problems today, IMCD Indonesia is taking action through our CSR programme to spread awareness about sustainable living and environmental issues. We believe that through our collaboration with the YCAB Foundation, schools, and the government, we could create an awareness for our youth to be more mindful of what they are going to use or what they are going to consume and how to manage the waste. We want future generations to be better and positively impact their surroundings. What students created today at this event could be a potential solution to social and environmental issues in the future.

“As a global distributor and formulator of speciality chemicals and ingredients, we understand the importance of sustainability and how we can contribute to communities we live and work in. We are honoured to sponsor the Green Smart Leaders project which supports the enhancement of awareness about environmental issues and contributes to sustainable living for future generations,” said Adelia Sia, Managing Director of IMCD Indonesia.