This month sees exciting developments in our International Academic Partnership Program (IAPP), overseen by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Entries have been submitted and reviews are underway for the IAPP design competition offering radical solutions to delivering essential waste management infrastructure for Indonesia. The winning design will be announced in January 2020.
The purpose of the competition is to design a sustainable and resilient material hub and integrated community masterplan to demonstrate best practice community waste management for local communities in vulnerable, coastal Indonesia. The material hub will serve as a best practice waste management facility for Indonesia and provide a location for sorting and processing waste. The hub will offer a learning environment for the local community and tourists to understand the whole picture of good practice waste management.
CLEAR have contributed to setting a design brief which calls for inspiring solutions, addressing technical considerations for sustainable design, vernacular and natural efficiency and renewable energy. Research has also been undertaken regarding the feasibility of emerging pyrolysis plastic-to-fuel technology for dealing with plastic waste at a village or regional scale.
Interdisciplinary teams were formed of University students from both Indonesia and the UK, from a variety of departments, promoting an examplary collaborative design approach. Disciplines included Planning and Tourism, Environmental, Civil and Building Services Engineering, Architecture, Surveying and more!
The partnership program has allowed University teams to be exposed to experts within the industry, who have supported the concept and added detail through their wealth of experience.
Earlier phases of the IAPP program included workshops in West Java with industry experts from UK and Indonesia supporting students and staff from the Universities to start the design process. The involvement of high-profile Universities and industry experts has added weight to the alternative methods used by CLEAR to promote sustainable development, and allowed innovation to flourish.
With a huge difference between Indonesian and English cultures when it comes to spearhead innovators and ideas, it has been great for the team in Batukaras to be supported by a host of highly experienced professionals, demonstrating to the local community that CLEAR’s alternative ideas and methods are respected and a material hub and comprehensive waste management infrastructure is capable of existing.
Presentation events early next year will involve Regional and Local Government leaders, and there will be public exhibitions and consultations open to the general public.Our short-term goals are to increase community engagement, inspire local leaders to allocate suitable land for a material hub, and gain their support for developing waste management infrastructure. Once there is land allocation and firm support for proposals in one village, we hope to find funding for the infrastructure and begin building a material hub as close to the original winning design as possible, which we hope will be the first of many in Indonesia!
CLEAR were the initiators of this IAPP program, setting out the concepts, program activities and putting the team together. The lead program partner is Indonesian University ITB and other partners are London South Bank University, technical consultancies AtelierTen and Mantra Bali. , Brian Mark and Chani Leahong, Senior UK technical experts from CLEAR, sit on the review panel for the design competition. CLEAR’s local team in West Java have facilitated the community liaison process with villages and community leaders.
We’re look forward to helping communities and government get inspired by these designs over the year ahead, and hope it’ll be a big step towards a revolution in how villages manage their waste!
