An environmental activist from Bali, I Made Janur Yasa, has won the CNN Heroes 2021 award after his name was included as one of the 10 nominees selected at the prestigious annual award event in the United States, on Monday 13th December 2021 local time.
The man from Ubud, Bali was considered worthy of an award for his initiatives in environmental matters, namely as the originator of the plastic exchange idea in which people can exchange plastic waste for rice.
Launched from the news page bali.suara.com on Wednesday 15th December 2021, the proud achievement was gained by Made Janur during a special annual award event hosted by CNN in honor of people who have made extraordinary contributions to help fellow human beings.
Made Janur started rolling out the idea of bartering plastic waste for rice during the COVID-19 pandemic and his idea tool him to the Top 10 CNN Heroes 2021.
Plastic exchange is one way to overcome the problem of plastic pollution in Bali while helping people affected by the pandemic.
According to Made, the rice obtained from exchanging plastic waste will be more meaningful because there is a lot of hard work put in when sorting. Made Janur started this action by working with individual banjars (village councils).
He added that the barter system is very beneficial for the environment and empowers the local community.
This idea was initiated by Made Janur so that aid in the form of basic food items would not be poured out. Made Janur had inspired people to care more about the environment and serve the motherland by cleaning up plastic waste.
“People will really appreciate the rice obtained from exchanging plastic waste,” he said.
Since this action was initiated two years ago, 200 banjars (village councils) in Bali are now running plastic exchanges and more than 500 tons of plastic waste have been collected.