Bhre K.

Bhre enjoyed playing football with his friends on the field, but he often felt uneasy about the cigarette butts scattered on the streets. After learning more about it with his father, Bhre became aware that cigarette butts were among the most abundant forms of plastic waste that posed significant environmental and health risks. Seeing this urgency, he invited his friends to clean up the football field by collecting cigarette butts on weekends. The waste would then be sorted, washed and recycled into crafts and paintings. Bhre developed this initiative further into a community named Otis, which means “cigarette butts” in Surabaya  dialect. They conducted outreach in schools to raise awareness about the danger of littering, as well as in nearby villages, especially to the community of cafe owners and housewives to educate smokers about the proper disposal of cigarette butts. So far, they have partnered with 15 local cafes to place disposal bins and collected 30,000 cigarette butts, which have been turned into more than 100 crafts and paintings.

Through his participation in Ashoka, Bhre aspired to share his initiative with individuals from various regions in Indonesia and other countries. He also aimed to actively listen to the stories of his fellow changemakers in order to provide other young people with ideas and inspiration to drive change based on their passions.