As part of a joint initiative between the Center for Sustainability and Waste Management Universitas Indonesia (CSWM) UI and Coca-Cola Europacifi c Partners Indonesia (CCEP Indonesia), the 2025 Pengenalan Kehidupan Kampus Mahasiswa Baru (PKKMB) featured a special environmental session aimed at activating student leadership in sustainability.

Under the theme “Zero Waste Starts With You: Pilah Sampahmu Sejak Dalam Pikiran,” this session invited over a thousand incoming students to envision themselves as pioneers in waste management and climate conscious innovation. The initiative is part of CSWM UI and Coca-Cola Europacifi c Partners Indonesia’s long-term collaboration to build a circular campus ecosystem at Universitas Indonesia through education, innovation, and community engagement.

“This is not just an orientation, it’s a mindset shift. We’re not asking students just to follow the rules, we’re asking them to lead the change and continue the legacy to sorting their waste from the very beginning in their mind,” said Rico Ricardo Lumban Gaol, Head of Community Development at CSWM UI, who delivered a compelling talk on reframing how we see waste in our daily lives.

The 33-minute session opened with a short fi lm introducing Indonesia’s waste crisis and UI’s roadmap toward zero waste by 2029. It was followed by a powerful storytelling presentation emphasizing the systemic nature of waste management. Calling out Leadership, Awareness, Facility, Regulation, Technology, Organization, and Financial as 7 key components of sustainable waste management initiatives.

To make the experience interactive, students joined a communal game called “Dinamika Tong Sampah”, where three brave participants were invited on stage to test their sorting skills by placing waste samples into the correct bins: organic (green), recyclable (yellow), and residual (red). The activity was part of broader efforts supported by Coca-Cola Europacifi c Partners Indonesia, one of CSWM UI’s key corporate partners to foster circular waste economy practices on campus.

Closing the session, students participated in a short post-test quiz designed to assess their understanding, followed by a group photo session as a symbol of their collective pledge. “We hope this brief moment becomes the seed for long-term engagement, some of these students might become future sustainability engineers, waste entrepreneurs, or policy changemakers,” said Rico.