Hiking Without Making Trash


ABOUT KAK SISKA

Kak Siska's name is Siska Nirmala. But she likes to be called Kak Pieta. She shared her experience about how to do adventure to five places (Gede-Pangrango Mountain, Tambora Mountain, Papandayan Mountain, Lawu Mountain and Argopuro Mountain) in the event that Klub Oase made last week. Klub Oase is a homeschooling community I join in. Kak Pieta also wrote her zerowaste expeditions in a book, Zerowaste Adventure.

HOW SHE MADE THE EXPEDITION

Kak Pieta actually didn't like hiking when she was in University. She preffered wall climbing. One day, her friend asked her to go hiking. They went to a mountain that is supposed to be pretty, as you can imagine how beautiful a tropical forest with its wildlife would be. Turned out the mountain was really dirty with trashes all over the places the hikers left during their adventure. There were plastic packaging from instant noodles and snacks, mineral water bottles. She also saw broken glass bottles.

She regretted that she brought plastic bottles and packaged snacks too. Then she got a plan to make zerowaste expeditions to several mountains and if she could, she would collect trash as well. There the expedition went.

MOUNT GEDE/ PANGRANGO

Hiking Mount Gede is the first adventure Kak Pieta made to start her zerowaste adventure. She went hiking with three of her friends to Mount Gede. First, they went to a security post before hiking the mountain, that is 2.953 meters high above sea level. The security checked their tickets to pass and also checked their carriers. The security was surprised to see loads of containers inside them.

Her friend even put out a whole melon and said it was for snack so they don't have trash. The security didn't seem so interested with their zerowaste stuff so they just went on.

In Mount Gede, hikers only can stay there for two days because of the amount of people that does hiking. Trip to Mount Gede doesn't take long.

Kak Pieta brought only natural food like fruits and vegetables, rice, macaroni, sugar and tea powder. All of them are also packed in containers.

MOUNT TAMBORA

Before they hiked Mount Tambora, kak Pieta talked with the manager of the basecamp. He said that next year it will be crowded in there because there are going to be a cultural festival, so people from other countries will go to Mount Tambora. The event will affect the economy of coffee farmers who live around the mountain, yet it will affect the trashes amount afterwards.

Even though Mount Tambora hasn't been a national park, there is always a rule about bringing down the trash. The basecamp manager was also confused what to do with the trash the hikers brought down. "Probably it will be piled up here. If it's not burnt it will be buried", said the manager. Bringing down trash, will still leave a problem, that is leaving the trash to villagers that isn't even theirs. The trash are most likely to be plastic bottles, instant noodle packaging, and snack packaging. The trash isn't that much because the amount of hikers that come.

FOOD

Food is the very important part. When you bring food make sure you don't buy it from a minimarket or it will still have trash. Kak Pieta usually brings things like fruits, rice, bread, onions, veggies. Before you hike the mountain, you can bring a galon of water in the car like what kak Pieta and her friends did. You don't really need a galon. You can also use a mini galon so you can bring it up to the mountain. Kak Pieta usually cook in the mountains. She has a YouTube channel that has a tutorial on how to make soup in the mountains.

She actually did expedition on three more mountains. If you want to know the rest, buy her book "Zerowaste Adventure".





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