JAKARTA — The moment of sacrifice is a joyous occasion for all Muslims around the world. Both those who make the sacrifice and their fellow brothers and sisters who receive the blessings of the sacrifice. However, many people still use plastic bags when distributing sacrificial meat. This leads to the accumulation of waste, which is difficult to decompose. Plastic waste has been proven to pollute the environment and damage ecosystems both on land and in the sea.
To minimize plastic waste during the sacrifice, Dompet Dhuafa Volunteers launched the “Kurban Asik Tanpa Sampah Plastik” (Fun Sacrifice Without Plastic Waste) campaign. In this campaign, DD Volunteers encourage people to use containers made from leaves, besek (woven bamboo containers), bamboo weaving, and other environmentally friendly containers that are easily biodegradable. DD Volunteers have been promoting this initiative for several years. This movement is part of DD Volunteers’ efforts to care for the earth.
“Alhamdulillah, this is our second year at DD Volunteer campaigning for the Kurban Asik Tanpa Sampah Plastik (Fun Qurbani Without Plastic Waste) movement. We are activating this movement across the entire DD Volunteer network in Indonesia. This movement is also a manifestation of the strengthening of the Tebar Hewan Kurban Dompet Dhuafa program, which since 2019 has consistently encouraged the use of environmentally friendly containers for qurbani meat. Strengthening this movement to reduce plastic waste is also part of our efforts to love the earth,” explained Maya Nur’aini, Senior Officer of Community & Volunteers Development at Dompet Dhuafa.
The campaign has been quite effective in reducing plastic waste in Dompet Dhuafa’s Qurbani Animal Distribution this year. The Dompet Dhuafa Volunteer team in several regions across Dompet Dhuafa’s national network used leaves, bamboo baskets, and besek (traditional woven baskets) to distribute qurbani meat. For example, in Aceh, the DD Volunteer team used nipah leaves to distribute qurbani meat.
In a number of regions, plastic bags are mostly replaced with leaves and bamboo baskets. In Medan and West Sumatra, meat is distributed using besek and bamboo baskets. Then in Aceh and Maluku, leaves are used. There are Nipah leaves in Aceh and Gamutu leaves in Maluku. Alhamdulillah, in organizing this movement, we at DD Volunteer are also collaborating with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, MUI, Aisyiyah, and several other communities,” added Maya. (Dompet Dhuafa/Taufan YN)