| Danial Norjidi |
A GROUP of young social entrepreneurs is working on setting up a food waste management project in Brunei Darussalam.
Called ‘Earthbank’, the project was created by InTurn – a group of graduates comprising Danial Mahmud, Mohammad Hizaamuddin bin Haji Abdul Haris, Dayangku Nurul Khairunnisa binti Pengiran Haji Mohd Roslin and Muhammad Azizan bin Haji Abdul Razak.
Earthbank was in the spotlight when it was named the winning project of the ‘Initiate Week – Rising of Social Entrepreneurs’ programme last week.
In their winning pitch, InTurn explained, “Our intention is actually to produce compost from food waste, so we’re able to turn your waste into something that is useful and valuable, and at the end of the day we can create a lot of sustainable businesses.”
Speaking to the Bulletin after their win, the team shared, “We don’t have a waste processing plant for food waste, and so that validates itself, really.”
They highlighted that composting is something that can easily be done by the community. “What makes it scalable is the online platform that lets homeowners who do composting at home trade with other community members in exchange for money or free food. It’s going to be an online platform, and depending on the traction, if it grows, then the app will come.
“Essentially, we’re trying to develop a network of community-driven waste processing, so we expect to see every household do their own composting, given that every household generates certain amount of food waste, which goes to waste if they don’t compost. That’s what we hope to see.”
On the benefits of composting, they shared, “All the inedible food scraps, what normally happens is it goes to the bin. So what we’re trying to tell the public is that those things that you consider waste actually has value, so we’re trying to make the community realise that soil or compost is a kind of currency. You can use it to grow your own food or give it to the farmers so they can grow food for you.”
On what is next for InTurn, they shared that they are hoping to assemble a bigger team and then move on developing the platform and compost bins.
“We’re going to try to do a few months of research and development to find the most efficient design of these compost bins. We’re in the process of designing the right type of compost bin that fits different types of households for maximum efficiency.”
InTurn were named winners of the Initiate Week programme during its closing ceremony on August 31 at the Design and Technology Building in Anggerek Desa, with YB Iswandy bin Ahmad, a Legislative Council member, as the guest of honour.
Initiate Week is a programme started by a lecturer from the School of Business, Politeknik Brunei named Goh Chai Li under the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI).
About 25 participants were involved in the programme, which aimed to ignite the spirit of social entrepreneurship among youths as well as creating jobs and self-reliance, while at the same time raising public awareness and engaging people with activities that serve the community better.
The programme promoted entrepreneurship as a way to engage talented youths to explore newer and innovative ideas in developing Brunei’s future, as well as to engage volunteers in serving the communities better by promoting a giving culture.
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