In daily life, cleanliness is viewed more as a shared responsibility among community members rather than a burden on one individual. Beyond its religious significance, cleanliness is considered the foundation of health.
This is easy to justify, considering that a dirty environment can threaten the health of its inhabitants, leading to issues such as respiratory infections.
Hence, building awareness of environmental cleanliness from a young age is crucial. Schools, including pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), can play a key role in fostering this awareness.
As trusted educational institutions for many Indonesian Muslims, it is only natural that pesantrens are expected to produce Islamic students who also have a genuine concern for the environment and its well-being.
This type of school is expected to contribute to shaping the character of its students, instilling a deep respect for environmental sustainability values in each pupil, known as a santri in Indonesia.
A santri who adopts a hygienic lifestyle can also contribute to environmental preservation in a broader term simply by maintaining his or her health and cleanliness, proving their sound level of concern for society.
Indonesia’s vast territory is home to a plethora of pesantrens, scattered from Aceh in the west to Papua in the east. The Ministry of Religious Affairs reported that, as of the first half of 2023, there are as many as 39,551 pesantrens, with a total of 4.9 million santris.
Given the large number of these schools, Indonesia has a significant opportunity to advance its pro-environment goals, including reducing the amount of unmanaged waste. It is important to note that pesantrens, especially those with many students, contribute significantly to the country’s waste output.
Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq has stated that a pesantren, with seven thousand santris, can generate up to 3.5 tons of waste daily, assuming each pupil produces only half a kilogram of waste per day.
With that in mind, he asserted that these Islamic schools should share the responsibility of promoting proper waste management for environmental sustainability.
Without effective and efficient waste management, this trend could lead to socio-environmental disasters, such as contamination of resources, odor pollution, and the spread of diseases.
Pesantrens can resort to several strategic initiatives to overcome this issue, including teaching their pupils to categorize waste into organic and non-organic types from an early age.
Organic waste can be converted into compost and biogas, while items made of synthetic or non-organic materials can be recycled to make new creative products of higher value. Hence, pesantrens should educate their pupils on ways to transform the waste they generate into valuable goods.
Establishing so-called waste banks is also a viable option for pesantrens to squeeze economic benefits out of wasted items.
Additionally, these religious boarding schools should encourage their students to avoid relying on single-use plastic items.
In this regard, Minister Nurofiq suggested that pesantren encourage their santris to start using reusable containers, such as tumblers, for their food and beverages. Collectively, this seemingly trivial initiative can help reduce plastic waste.
Given the significant role of food waste in pesantren waste output, the minister stressed that pesantren must urge their pupils not to waste food.
Undoubtedly, it is crucial to instill in the minds of santris the importance of not taking more food than they need and finishing their meals, given that data indicates that food makes up 50 percent of Indonesia’s overall volume of waste.
It may be easy to imagine the significant positive impacts on the environment if Indonesia’s many pesantren align on the importance of implementing these green initiatives.
In addition to contributing to the nation’s efforts to reduce waste, these innovative measures can provide new economic opportunities for pesantrens, allowing them to profit from selling eco-friendly or recycled products.
In this way, these educational institutions can go beyond just fostering religiosity and become agents of change and centers of green innovations.
Pesantrens could collaborate with government institutions, environmental organizations, pro-environment activist communities, and the general public to strengthen their commitment to environmental sustainability.
The government could support these initiatives by offering incentives to pesantrens, such as awarding those that successfully promote and implement eco-friendly practices.
This approach is expected to encourage more such schools to adopt eco-friendly values and help their santri become accustomed to a hygienic lifestyle. Upon graduation, these students will, in turn, disseminate their green habits back into their communities.
With pesantrens actively producing environmentally-conscious young talents, Indonesia can expect to see its living environment free from piles of unmanaged waste sooner.
However, this vision largely depends on how consistent and collective the Islamic boarding schools are in pursuing the implementation of green initiatives.
Assuming that consistency and cohesiveness are guaranteed, Indonesia’s many pesantrens can prove their capacity to stand at the forefront of endorsing eco-friendly conducts in the public while promoting Islam’s true commitment to the sustainability of lives on Mother Earth.
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Translator: Sean Filo, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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