OsWorld: Organic Solution for a Better World
Helping the Underprivileged Community
The waste management system at the Orang Asli settlement is in dire state. Piles of rubbish can be seen everywhere. Since the settlement is sandwiched between palm oil plantation and rubber plantation (private owned), the choice throwing rubbish is always a problem. In addition, the settlement is not accessible to large vehicle added difficulties in disposing their rubbish. As it accumulates, hygiene is compromised as it invites unwanted rodents to breed. This could be hazardous to health. The fastest and easy solution currently being practiced at the settlement is burning them. However, the emission of carbon monoxide is not only hazardous to health but also can cause forest fire. Therefore, we invented a concept called OsWorld – organic solution for a better world. We plan to teach the community to produce compost from the organic waste to mitigate the impact of the problems in waste management.
Overview of Issue / Background
The waste management system at the Orang Asli settlement is in dire state. Piles of rubbish can be seen everywhere. Since the settlement is sandwiched between palm oil plantation and rubber plantation (private owned), the choice throwing rubbish is always a problem. In addition, the settlement is not accessible to large vehicle added difficulties in disposing their rubbish. As it accumulates, hygiene is compromised as it invites unwanted rodents to breed. This could be hazardous to health. The fastest and easy solution currently being practiced at the settlement is burning them. However, the emission of carbon monoxide is not only hazardous to health but also can cause forest fire. Therefore, we invented a concept called OsWorld – organic solution for a better world. We plan to teach the community to produce compost from the organic waste to mitigate the impact of the problems in waste management.
Project Objectives (Vision & Mission)
The objectives of this project are as follows:
- To teach how the art and science of composting
- To reduce waste / garbage within the settlement
- To produce compost from organic waste
- To use the produced compost as fertilizer
- To sell the compost for income generation
- To create entrepreneurship among the Orang Asli
Project Details (Activities and Tasks)
The task is called Composting Management. This is an invervention in the composting process.
In composting management, it requires compost bin and compost booster. Basically,
- Composting is a natural method which will convert organic residues into fertile humus.
- Compost is created from the remains of fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, and other organic waste.
- Putting the remains of fruits and vegetables in a compost bin made of fallen leaves and branches will accelerate the composting process, and nutritious compost will be produced.
- This will not only dispose of organic waste in the most acceptable way, but will also recycle nutrients.
- Remnants of food will enhance the quality of the soil.
- The soil will become more resistant to pests and diseases.
- Compost not only feeds the plants, but it is also a method for solving the problem of waste management.
Expected Project Result & Outcomes
The expected result & outcome of this project are as follows:
- Eliminating the problem of waste deficiency
- Preventing open burning
- Reduction of emission of carbon monoxide
- Healthier and safer living environment
- Increase household income as it can be sold to organic farmers
0% of RM1.00 Goal
Project Information
University name | : | Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Kampus Segamat, JOHOR |
Project leader name | : | Joshua Rugu Pengiran |
Facebook link | : | https://www.facebook.com/organica.solutionis.3 |
Number of beneficiaries | : | 351 direct beneficiaries and another 1053 indirect beneficiaries |
Section I
- The main goal of this project is to bring the art and science of composting to the community through series of hands-on seminars promoting awareness about the importance of how composting can sustain our Earth. Further, the project aimed at assisting the community in organic waste management and Social Entrepreneurship which means income can be generated from the sale of compost soil and compost tea (and in some cases BSF larvae).
- With only RM2100 grant, fundraising was greatly needed since the expenses were too high. We solicited donation from friends and relatives, we sell breakfast and lunch pack at Blok Karyawan, UiTM Johor. We also sell dinner pack from door to door at our hostel. In addition, we managed to harvest our BSF larvae, compost soil and compost tea – we sold quite a number of it. Finally, we innovated our own mini compost bin and managed to sell a few.
- Grounded on 3E (Educating, Empowering, and Entrepreneurship) our project embarked on hands-on seminars. Educating - these series of seminars helped our audiences to understand the importance of composting. Empowering – coaching (and later on) becoming coach in action/practice to find solution on how organic waste management can sustain our Mother Earth. Entrepreneurship – the end product of this project which is compost soil, compost tea and BSF larvae benefited the community as it can be generating additional income.
- High level of difficulty was faced in conducting our project as we have very small amount of grant. Expectation from the society was too high when they know that we are having grant. It was not wise for us to tell how small our grant is as it will give bad image to our sponsor. Therefore, we have to cope with these difficulties by fundraising and approached our project in lower cost but impactful result at the same time. We have to reduce number of team members too (to cut costs).
- There were not much cultural barriers that we face in conducting our project. Only a minor one when we encountered typical peoples who think composting is a dirty thing to do or (religiously unclean). Language barrier is not a big problem because we have translators along the way, afterall we conversed in bilingual and national language to reach out to our audience.
- Excellent microbes and bacteria works wonders on our side. Local micro-organism including BFS (black flies solders) greatly assisted our composting activities. Amazingly, we managed to harvest our compost in a very short period of time. Unfortunately, all our members were tied up with the study that caused some of us became victims of circumstances.
- The people that have benefited from our project directly, is categorize into 3 categories. Secondary School students, Primary School students and the Orang Asal community. Indirectly, our project will benefit the Mother Earth, the organic farmers and the family members of our direct audiences when they shared the art of composting to them. The by-products enhance nutrients in our food supply chains.
- Our project will be continuous as there are demands from other schools who want us to share about the art and science of composting to their students. Since composting is in the syllabus, school teachers wanted us to come over to their schools to give hands-on activity the students. However, because of our limited resources, currently, we are not able to meet their demands. We believe that we should teach children from a young age to learn about how to manage organic waste properly as it is easier to make it a habit at a young age.
Section II
- The main goal of this project is to bring the art and science of composting to the community through series of hands-on seminars promoting awareness about the importance of how composting can sustain our Earth. Further, the project aimed at assisting the community in organic waste management and Social Entrepreneurship which means income can be generated from the sale of compost soil and compost tea (and in some cases BSF larvae).
- With only RM2100 grant, fundraising was greatly needed since the expenses were too high. We solicited donation from friends and relatives, we sell breakfast and lunch pack at Blok Karyawan, UiTM Johor. We also sell dinner pack from door to door at our hostel. In addition, we managed to harvest our BSF larvae, compost soil and compost tea – we sold quite a number of it. Finally, we innovated our own mini compost bin and managed to sell a few.
- Grounded on 3E (Educating, Empowering, and Entrepreneurship) our project embarked on hands-on seminars. Educating - these series of seminars helped our audiences to understand the importance of composting. Empowering – coaching (and later on) becoming coach in action/practice to find solution on how organic waste management can sustain our Mother Earth. Entrepreneurship – the end product of this project which is compost soil, compost tea and BSF larvae benefited the community as it can be generating additional income.
- High level of difficulty was faced in conducting our project as we have very small amount of grant. Expectation from the society was too high when they know that we are having grant. It was not wise for us to tell how small our grant is as it will give bad image to our sponsor. Therefore, we have to cope with these difficulties by fundraising and approached our project in lower cost but impactful result at the same time. We have to reduce number of team members too (to cut costs).
- There were not much cultural barriers that we face in conducting our project. Only a minor one when we encountered typical peoples who think composting is a dirty thing to do or (religiously unclean). Language barrier is not a big problem because we have translators along the way, afterall we conversed in bilingual and national language to reach out to our audience.
- Excellent microbes and bacteria works wonders on our side. Local micro-organism including BFS (black flies solders) greatly assisted our composting activities. Amazingly, we managed to harvest our compost in a very short period of time. Unfortunately, all our members were tied up with the study that caused some of us became victims of circumstances.
- The people that have benefited from our project directly, is categorize into 3 categories. Secondary School students, Primary School students and the Orang Asal community. Indirectly, our project will benefit the Mother Earth, the organic farmers and the family members of our direct audiences when they shared the art of composting to them. The by-products enhance nutrients in our food supply chains.
- Our project will be continuous as there are demands from other schools who want us to share about the art and science of composting to their students. Since composting is in the syllabus, school teachers wanted us to come over to their schools to give hands-on activity the students. However, because of our limited resources, currently, we are not able to meet their demands. We believe that we should teach children from a young age to learn about how to manage organic waste properly as it is easier to make it a habit at a young age.
-
- As for the Orang Asal community, we are teaching them to learn how to manage their waste and how to generate income from the compost to be sold as organic compost soil. Since the Orang Asal community has difficulties to manage their waste in their compound, we are teaching them the art and science of composting as a start to learn to manage their waste and the same time to generate income for themselves. They are also growing vegetables for domestic consumption and our project is an added value to them. This has to be a continuous effort.
Section 3
- We strongly believe that our project has contributed towards happiness. Firstly, we are helping to make the community or the place that we live in, a better place by managing our organic waste in the right way. Our project does not only impact knowledge on the art and science of composting but it also indirectly building awareness on the fact that we can turn organic waste into something useful such as taking better care of our mother earth and providing an extra income to a community. Some of them were not aware that we can do something about orange and apple peels before, as most of us would throw it away. We are showing that we can turn something that most people know as garbage into an organic compost soil as well as compost tea to help crops to grow a lot healthier as it provide nutrients to the soil. Organic farmers too can widely smile as our project provide them with Black Gold i.e. compost.
This project has changed me in a lot of ways. I have seen how children, students and Orang Asal community are so grateful for our effort to help them and to show them the art and science of composting in the right way. It just shows how valuable knowledge is and some people do not have the opportunity to gain knowledge. We have this knowledge plus the ability to bring happiness to people. We are glad that we did it and experiencing how big the impact it has towards the communities. To most students our project bring much happiness when they are able to work with new friends outside of their class, playing with ‘dirts’ and most importantly they are happy to think that they are making the Mother Earth happy. As for the Orang Asal, they were so happy with this project until they innovated their own compost bin as the one we gave were not enough for each and every one of them to ‘play’ with.
- Before we embark into this project, we were quite sceptical if this is going to make people happy. It seems to be just a tiny dot, but turned out that the impact was so great. Happily, we presented and exhibited the idea of this project, with a proper system of composting, we have been awarded with Silver Award in an international competition, and it became a major turning point – many out there are more happier than ever.
Thus, “if you have the ability to make a change in a community, doesn’t matter big or small, then go and make a difference. If it’s not you, then who else?” (Joshua Rugu Pengiran).
Image Gallery