The Concept of OW Bank Innovated by IPB Students Won the Sriwijaya Scientific Event 2017
Mahsyar Taufiq, a student of the Department of Fisheries Resources Utilization, of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK IPB), together with Fata Hudaya and Faiz Ahmad Ghozy, students of the Department of Agriculture Industry Technology, of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology of Bogor Agricultural University (FATETA IPB), collaborated in drafting a waste bank organic facility, that provides a non-money saving facility called OW Bank. The background of the concept of this waste bank was the food and organic waste produced by food stalls in IPB campus.
"Cafeteria or food stalls around IPB produce organic waste approximately 5-10 kilograms per day, without any further treatment of organic waste. Of course this is a problem, as the waste and sewage generated by those food stalls can get into the water supply, introducing large organic pollutants into the ecosystemr, "said Mahsyar as team leader.
In preparing the idea of OW Bank, Mahsyar and the team conducted direct interviews to sellers in the cafeteria. Implementation of OW Bank concept will be carried out by involving the food business owners or cafeteria business available around IPB campus to become OW Bank customer.
"The concept of OW Bank we offer will provide a special waste bin for each canteen. The collected organic garbage will be transported to the OW Bank office. For every transaction the customers will get a balance of 2,500 rupiah for five kilograms of organic waste. Then, the organic waste then will be processed into liquid organic fertilizer and fish feed pellets, "explained Mahsyar.
The unique of the ideas, the two products produced by OW Bank management will not only be utilized for agricultural land and fish ponds of OW Bank, but also will be packaged and marketed to farmers or fish farmers in Bogor. "Later on, agricultural products and fish cultivation as well as profits from sales of liquid fertilizer and fish pellets will be informed on the office announcement board," he added.
The concept of bank OW designed by Mahsyar and this team originally came from the idea of Student Creativity Program (PKM) on the development and commercialization of organic waste as animal feed. Thanks to the ideas they took for their scientific paper, Mahsyar and the team won as the 2nd winner for the Sriwijaya Scientific Event 2017 at Sriwijaya University, carried out on 1-2 November 2017.
Mahsyar hopes this idea can be implemented, in order to implement the environmental conservation of IPB, to be environmentally friendly campus to support the Green Campus program. (Wied)
