RCE Greater Gombak - 2020
Closing the Loop: Campus Wide Approach in Accelerating Waste Minimization
Region:
Asia-Pacific
Country:
Malaysia
Location(s):
International Islamic University Malaysia
Address of focal point institution for project:
Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity
Secretariat, RCE Greater Gombak
International Islamic University Malaysia
Jalan Gombak, 53100
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Secretariat, RCE Greater Gombak
International Islamic University Malaysia
Jalan Gombak, 53100
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Ecosystem(s):
Target Audience:
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area :
The main campus of IIUM, in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, is located in a valley of district of Gombak, a suburb of the capital city. From the total area of campus of 2,832,799.5 sqm, about 1,002,700.00 sqm which is 35 % are the forest vegetation which function as carbon sequestrant. The campus provides complete of education facilities, student’s dormitory and residential houses to accommodate of 30,700 inhabitants. Therefore, it reflects in high amount of waste generated which the waste generation for year 2019 recorded up to 3,246,478 kg of waste or in average 105.7 kg per person per year or 0.290 kg per person per day.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses:
From the total 3,246,478 kg of waste generated in IIUM, only about 90532 kg or 3% recycled, about 860,402 kg or 26% garden & food waste are composted. About 2,295,545 kg or equal to 71% from the total are still send to the landfill which cause high amount of carbon emission from waste. The overall composition of IIUM municipal waste that consist of 55 % recyclable items and 45 % food waste shows the potential to use for recycle and composting which promotes circular economy from this sector. However, more efforts are needed to change the behaviour of campus community, strategic campaign using behavioural insight or nudging to persuade subtle change and provision of more recycle bin, and technical capacity to reduce waste generated.
Status:
Ongoing
Period:
November, 2019
Rationale:
An increasing trend of waste generation is closely related to consumption pattern, behaviour and traditional method of waste management which contribute to food waste generation in Malaysia. In HEI, the responsibility and work of waste management is under campus operation and rarely to consider as part of teaching learning, action research, community of practice, CoP which potential to contribute to transformation of the campus community towards sustainable society. Hence, circularity of food waste in this project is not only being recorded in reduction of waste and production of value-added product but also provide platform for transformational and experiential learning experience for the campus society. It is through education for sustainable development, ESD. Moreover, the project creates the pathway on HEI contribute to Malaysia SCP Blueprint and SDG 12, specify in SDG 12.5 and SDG 12.3.1. It is a calling of action, through its role and function and as a big institution, HEI has unique role by adopting campus as a living learning lab, apply what they teach to the student. It creates a platform to develop the youngster as agent of change together with a pool of expert, through IIUM Campus Sustainability through co-creation for sustainability.
Objectives:
The main objective of this initiative is to reduce waste generation, minimization of food wastage and promote community gardening by deploying the education for sustainable development, ESD approach. It promotes the experiential and transformative learning experiences of ESD in the formal and non-formal education. Demonstrating an action participatory based research to accelerate the process of IIUM Campus Sustainability by involving students, academic staff, operation and admin staff, it promotes trans disciplinarity of campus living lab and provide platform for community of practice, CoP in the context of social learning.
Activities and/or practices employed:
The waste minimization as one of IIUM Campus Sustainability have several strategies that structured the activities; I) provision of the facilities for waste minimization covers waste recycling facilities, food waste separation facility at café and food waste composter machine by the campus operation, IIUM Daya Bersih Sdn. Bhd.; ii) development of IIUM code of practice for waste minimization; iii) launch IIUM Zero Single-Use Plastic Campaign as non-formal educational awareness especially at restaurant canteen, area for community garden and source separation; iv) selected course and research related to food waste accelerate the campus sustainability, waste minimization initiative by providing venue for students learn the real-world issues related to sustainable development in their campus daily life; iv. the use of compost for own consumption, such as community edible garden and landscaping to reduce the fertilizer procurement and improve soil quality and performance.
Size of academic audience:
2680
Results:
The key success of this initiative beyond than the data could recorded. Apart from reduction about 860.402 kg or 26 % of garden waste and about 0.02 % or 7895 kg of food waste were used for composting, it shows reduction from the total of 3,254,375 kg of municipal waste generated at IIUM in year 2019. The data demonstrates effort of food waste separation at source by the campus community, process of compost production, further it applies the compost for landscaping as well as encourage community gardening. Beside the budget saved from own consumption of compost for landscaping recorded up to 97% reduction or equal to MYR 41,500 for the year 2019, it helps to accelerates the generation of healthy soil. Hence, it demonstrates full loop of circular economy from food waste which contribute to RCP, SDG12. The various education and research activities deploy the application of ESD approaches support this initiative.
Lessons learned:
Along the three-pronged approaches of food waste separation, compost production and application of compost in gardening, we learnt the potential to explore more inter- and transdisciplinary of educational and research. Involvement of other aspect such as talk on pyramid for food health consumption, more research on compost technology, advancement of compost production facility, more technical staff involve in composting project, social learning talk on CoP will promotes more participation for better result in showcase our commitment not only the global food waste problem but also to reduce greenhouse gas emission reduction from our campus.
Relationship to other RCE activities:
The project is aligned with the aim of RCE Greater Gombak for Whole Community Transformation Towards Sustainable Society through the empowerment of the community towards sustainable development.
Funding:
The food waste composting and recycling in funded by Daya Bersih Sdn. Bhd.
Pictures:
File Name | Caption for picture | Photo Credit |
---|---|---|
Screen Shot 2020-10-31 at 10.40.42 PM.png (504.31 KB) | Ulul Albab Vegetable Garden | Irina Safitri Zen |
WhatsApp Image 2020-10-18 at 6.44.38 PM.jpeg (169.99 KB) | IIUM Green Commitment to the World | Aiman Fikri Borhan |
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Indirect
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Indirect
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Indirect
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
Indirect
Traditional Knowledge
Indirect
Agriculture
Indirect
Curriculum Development
Indirect
Forests/Trees
Indirect
Plants & Animals
Indirect
Waste
Direct
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy
state:
Indirect
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments
state:
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Developing capacities of educators and trainers
state:
Indirect
Priority Action Area 4 - Mobilizing youth
state:
Indirect
Update:
No