Feature


Published: 14 Sep 2021

Today the world is undergoing many changes. There is a greenhouse effect that triggers global warming. The ice at the poles is melting, increasing the water level on Earth. As a result, areas that were previously never flooded are now flooded.

In essence, the world is facing climate change. The growing population encourages people to use all resources to meet their needs. Whether it's in the form of food, shelter, water, energy, and various other conditions, to meet these needs, humans often ignore environmental Sustainability. Thus, environmental damage happens everywhere, some of which trigger disasters such as floods and landslides to a prolonged dry season.

All world leaders voice concern for the occurrence of environmental damage, and there is President Joko Widodo among them. As quoted from mediaindonesia.com, President Joko Widodo encourages sustainable, inclusive, and resilient development to protect the lives of human beings and all other living things on the Earth's surface. President Joko Widodo's message was conveyed while attending a virtual P4G Summit (KTT) or Partnering for Green Growth and Global Goals 2030.

Such concerns belong not only to state leaders but also to engineers. Among them are mechanical engineering engineers. Anxiety is what they discussed a few weeks ago in a webinar which was the result of a collaboration between the Mechanical Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering, President University (PresUniv) and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Bandung Institute of Technology, The University of Notthingham from the United Kingdom, Sampoerna University and Pertamina University.

The Mechanical Engineering Study Program at PresUniv, for example, voiced the importance of the process of implementing sustainable manufacturing or sustainable manufacturing. The essence of sustainable manufacturing is the creation of manufactured products with functions that cause negative impacts on the environment, cannot afford energy and natural resources, and are safe for employees, communities, and consumers. Ultimately, this process must manifest in a healthy economy, according to the Mechanical Engineering Study Program lecturer, Dr. eng. Azhari Sastranegara, a sustainable manufacturing process, is carried out by considering three parameters. He said, "These parameters include social, environmental, and economic aspects."

Meanwhile, Dr. eng. Pandji Prawisudha from the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, discussed more detail. It is necessary to add an essential step in a sustainable manufacturing process that is packaged in a presentation on the topic of How to Retain Sustainability. What are the stages? Pandji explains, "There are a total of seven stages which include prevention, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, treatment, containment, and disposal."

The concept of avoidance in sustainable manufacturing refers to a production process that as much as possible avoids negative impacts, such as environmental damage, excessive use of resources, including endangering workers, consumers, and society. At the same time, the concept of reuse means reusing materials that are safe and can be reused. For example, the rest of the plastic material is reprocessed into plastic bag craft products.

Then, recycle means recycling waste. For example, waste can be chopped or processed and then reprocessed into a new product. Meanwhile, energy recovery refers to the use of materials that can no longer be recycled. These materials can be used to produce energy.

The concept of treatment refers to one or a combination of several treatments to obtain the condition of the raw material. This kind of treatment will be more than natural resources.

For the concept of containment, it means storing hazardous materials to ensure these materials do not spread everywhere, thereby endangering the environment and society. In a continuous manufacturing process, a unique space is usually required to store this kind of material.

Then, the last one is disposal. There are four steps that can be achieved in this stage: recycling or recycling, repairing or repairing, reusing or reusing, and reducing or reducing its use. If these steps cannot be carried out, eventually, the material must be discarded. However, in order not to endanger the environment and society, waste really cannot be used first. (JB Susetiyo, PR team Photo: Lita Gabriella)