Your rubbish for our books: Indonesian library creates literacy from litter

PURBALINGGA, INDONESIA - A librarian in Indonesia's Java island is lending books to children in exchange for rubbish they collect, in a novel way to clean up the environment and get the children to read more.

Each weekday, Ms Raden Roro Hendarti rides her three-wheeler with books stacked up at the back for children in Muntang village to exchange for plastic cups, bags and other waste that she carries back.

She told Reuters she is helping inculcate reading in the kids as well as make them aware of the environment.

As soon as she shows up, little children, many accompanied by their mothers, surround her "Trash Library" and clamour for the books.

They are all carrying rubbish bags and Ms Raden's three-wheeler quickly fills up with them as the books fly out. She is happy the kids are going to spend less time on online games as a result.

"Let us build a culture of literacy from young age to mitigate the harm of the online world," Ms Raden said. "We should also take care of our waste in order to fight climate change and to save the earth from trash."

She collects about 100kg of waste each week, which is then sorted out by her colleagues and sent for recycling or sold. She has a stock of 6,000 books to lend and wants to take the mobile service to neighbouring areas as well.

Kevin Alamsyah, an avid 11-year-old reader, scours for waste lying in the village.

"When there is too much trash, our environment will become dirty and it's not healthy. That's why I look for trash to borrow a book," he said.

The chief of the area's main public library Jiah Palupi said Ms Raden's work complemented their efforts to combat online gaming addiction among the youth and promote reading.

The literacy rate for those aged above 15 years in Indonesia is around 96 per cent, but a September report by the World Bank warned that the pandemic will leave more than 80 per cent of 15-year-olds below the minimum reading proficiency level identified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.