In conjunction with World Clean Up Day, the Surakarta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and Sampoerna Retail Community (SRC) as well as several environmental communities, collaborated in an activity themed ‘Clean Month Surakarta: Love the Earth, Manage Waste to Reduce Environmental Footprint, for a More Beautiful Surakarta’.

Through this activity, Kadin and SRC invite employees and the wider community to take an active role in protecting the environment with various simple actions. The Clean Month in Surakarta was held in the Kampung Batik Laweyan area of Surakarta, involving around 500 volunteers from the community, SRC member grocery store operators, and the Solo Bersih Community. The clean-up activities targeted the Jenes River and the Kampung Batik Laweyan area.

Setiawan Muhammad, Chairman of the Laweyan Batik Village Development Forum, said that village and river clean-up activities have often been carried out. However, this is the first time the event has been held in Kampung Batik Laweyan in collaboration with other parties.

‘Therefore, I am very grateful. This means that they care about the environment in Kampung Batik Laweyan,’ Setiawan Muhammad said in an official statement, Wednesday (11/9/2024).

In addition to cleaning up garbage, there was also a symbolic handover of 333 plant seeds to the Laweyan River Community, handover of trash bins to the Head of Laweyan Village, handover of trash bins to representatives of RT / RW Laweyan Village and handover of cleaning tools to the Solo Bersih Community.

Iwan also added that Surakarta Clean Month was held as well as a series of commemorations of the anniversary of Kampung Batik Laweyan which falls on 25 September 2024.

Vice Chairman of Organisation and Communication of Kadin Surakarta Farid Sunarto appreciated the involvement of volunteers who care about the environment. According to him, the environment is currently a serious concern. Not only at the national level, but also internationally.

Representative from Sampoerna for Indonesia, Arief Triastika, hoped that the environmental clean-up activities carried out in Kampung Batik Laweyan Surakarta could have an impact on the wider community.

‘Of course, we hope that this activity can bring results and benefits that can both be an inspiration that what we do in a simple way can have an impact on many people. We also actively organise and support various activities, such as education about the habit of disposing of waste in its place. One of these activities is the #SayaAjaBisa movement since 2018 to increase awareness of protecting the environment to the wider community,’ said Arief.