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Waste management in the community of Samboja in Indonesia

In 2018 we launched an initiative to help reduce waste, sharing a range of good practices with families.

Recycling and reducing waste with help from a group of experts

With more than 69,900 inhabitants, the community of Samboja has the third largest population in the regency of Kutai Kartanegara, in Indonesia, according to “Kukar in Numbers 2020”, from the East Kalimantan Central Bureau of Statistics. Many aspects of life there are difficult, including waste management. In the district we work in, mountains of rubbish are a familiar sight in the courtyards of houses. The local government has formed an independent group of environmental experts, a sahabat sampah or waste management team, to help combat the problem. In 2018 the local community asked for our help to reach their goals more quickly. Keen to help protect the environment, Eni stepped in, offering its help to the local government in their attempts. The parties decided on a range of work within a pilot project called "Clean, Green and Healthy Samboja", creating a complete life cycle of waste management, boosted by a competition between the local villages. The success of the pilot project led in 2019 to the second phase of the project, in the district of Samboja, involving other villages. During the project, families were helped by environmental experts, who encouraged the local communities to keep their homes clean and well cared for, as Mardiah, a participant in "Clean, Green and Healthy Samboja" from the village of Handil Baru Darat, told us.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an action plan signed in September 2015 by 193 UN member states. It incorporates 17 goals aimed at the socio-economic development of communities and regions. In line with the 12th development goal, we are helping achieve eco-friendly management of waste throughout its life cycle, in compliance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reducing the release of waste into the air, water and soil, to minimise harm to human health and the environment (Goal 12).

Safety first

Safety in the workplace is an imperative value we want to share with our employees, contractors and local stakeholders. We are committed to eliminate accidents and protect the integrity of our assets. We consolidate a culture of safety through management and organization models, digital tools and communication initiatives. Our goal is strengthening the awareness of our people and their sense of responsibility toward themselves and others, by expanding HSE tools and digitalization to make corporate processes safer, more efficient and faster. 

Now everyone in the community sees even more clearly the effects of our earlier campaigns to have a sink in every house, grow spices and medicinal plants in courtyards, and adopt a clean and healthy lifestyle.

Harlan, member of the "Sahabat Sampah"

Impact on the environment and communities

We have educated the local community to follow a more clean and healthy lifestyle. We have helped reduce waste and increase recycling, at the same time as getting people to use barren, abandoned or unproductive land to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers for their own consumption.

The value of experience

The project is a model for sharing waste management skills in the community, as well as an example of environmental sustainability that could be applied in other fields.