In order to carry out this community service, ITB works with Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani (Unjani), Universitas Pakuan (Unpak), Universitas Garut (Uniga), and Universitas Muhammadiyah Sukabumi (UMMI).

According to Dr. Muhammad Yudhistira Azis, an ITB Chemistry Lecturer, this activity was prompted by the local community's concern about the accumulation of garbage, as well as the economic resources that were not optimal due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The activity, which was supported by the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM) ITB and the Indonesian Chemical Association (HKI) West Java-Banten branch, consisted of six activities: (1) counseling and socialization of clean water quality and its identification and application of health protocols, (2) workshop on making hand sanitizers by the Chemistry Student Association (HMK) AMISCA ITB, (3) workshop on making candles by Unjani students, (4) optimization of waste processing into products by UMMI students, (5) product marketing counseling/training hand sanitizers, candles, and digital-based waste processing products by ITB Chemistry alumni and Uniga and Unpak students, and (6) simple chemical experiments for high school students.

"This activity involved 30 Karang Taruna residents from two different villages," Yudhistira explained. "Karang Taruna residents were targeted as initiators and pioneers of community insight for village progress."

Students from the ITB Chemistry Study Program and the Unjani Chemistry Study Program were also trained in the production of hand sanitizer products and aromatherapy soap using local essential oils. Moreover, ITB alumni and teams from Uniga and Unpak also provided training on digital-based product marketing at this community service. Other activities included education on waste management optimization by UMMI students, and simple chemical experiments for high school students by ITB and Unjani students.

"It is envisioned that after this activity, the community will be able to identify water quality issues, an initiative to live clean on the banks of the Sukaregang River, Jayamukti Village, Cihurip District, Garut Regency. In addition, residents could perhaps make their hand sanitizers and essential oil liquid soap," according to a statement received by ITB Public Relations on Friday (11/5/2021).

He said that by selling educational products from this collaborative activity in the form of hand sanitizers and waste processing products using digital marketing methods, the people of Cihurip District will be able to restore the local economy that has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yudishtira stated that in addition to 30 Karang Taruna residents, 20 high school students participated in simple chemistry experiments at SMAN 30 Cihurip Village. The local community welcomed and enthusiastically participated in this community service.

This community service activity, he claimed, was unique in that it is carried out in a hybrid manner, which was offline and online. Furthermore, collaboration with four Indonesian universities has never been attempted before. Yudhistira hopes that this activity can be done in a long-term way. The hope is that this village will become a research site for ITB academics and that the findings will be used to further develop the village.

Reporter: Adi Permana
Translator: Naffisa Adyan Fekranie (Oceanography, 2019)