Keraton Going Green

Since 2002, Indonesian Student Association in University of Washington (ISAUW) has held an annual cultural event, Keraton, to celebrate and promote Indonesia’s diverse culture. This year Keraton will be held on April 29^th at the Rainer Vista, University of Washington. Throughout the event, we will promote our culture by selling various Indonesian traditional cuisines, hosting on-stage performances and cultural games. Our hope for Keraton is that it will not only attract Indonesian people in the greater Seattle neighborhood but also the whole Washington community. Last year Keraton managed to attract 8000 people and we are aiming to get 10000 this year to widen the exposure to Indonesian culture.

Based on our previous experience in hosting this event, we understand the environmental damages that an event as big as ours can pose. Consequently, this year we planned to implement a recycling program to minimize the amount of waste we produce. We hope that the funding from CSF can help us in this ‘Keraton Going Green’ effort.

In order to achieve the ‘Keraton Going Green’ effort, we will:

1. We’ll demand all of our third-party vendors to only use compostable materials (food containers) to minimize our environmental footprint.
2. Ensure that our event map lay out the locations of all the recycling and compost bins.
3. Include our recycling efforts in our event marketing.
4. Assign ISAUW officers as well as volunteers to monitor the locations of all the recycling and compost bins to ensure proper sorting. 

To help us in this sustainability effort, we’re asking for a donation of $999.00 from CSF. We plan to use the funding we’ll receive to:

1. Fund the compostable materials for vendors. ($500)
2. Partially fund the renting cost of LED stage lighting to minimize our event’s energy usage. ($500)

Environmental impact

Not only did Keraton attracted 8000 people last year but also had 13 vendors selling food. As a result, there is a substantial amount of waste produced. This year, Keraton is aiming to attract 10000 people. Surely, there will be more waste produced than last year. Therefore ISAUW will implement the ‘Keraton Going Green’ effort, which will ensure the reduction of waste production by vendors as well as the overseeing of waste sorting in the recycling and compost bins locations.

Student leadership and involvement

There are 39 ISAUW officers who have contributed their time and energy in making a huge event such as Keraton. Furthermore, there will also be about 123 volunteers that will help out in the event, whom of which are Indonesian students from the University of Washington as well as community colleges around the greater Seattle area. 

Education, outreach, and behavior change

ISAUW believes that implementing a 'Keraton Going Green' effort will benefit us as well as the people who will be attending our event as it will show them how a substantial amount of waste will be produced in an event as big as ours. We hope that they will have a better perspective and understanding on the importance of minimizing waste and that there will be a behavior change in their lifestyle. We will also ensure this ‘Keraton Going Green’ effort will continue to be implemented in future ISAUW events and hope that other events that will take place in the University of Washington will also follow our efforts.

Feasibility, accountability, and sustainability

ISAUW was established in 2001 and has since successfully promoted the Indonesian culture and values of diversity to Indonesian youth in the Greater Seattle Area. ISAUW has held multiple major events every year including but not limited to PERMIAS National Cup, LARIMAN (Seattle's Amazing Race) and our signature event, Keraton. We strive to minimize our waste and environmental impact by actively adopting policies to achieve that goal. For instance, ISAUW regularly conducts fundraising by selling banana pudding. To minimize environmental impact, ISAUW opted to use attractive mason jars instead of plastic jars to encourage the customer to continue using them. We are confident that we will use CSF's donation in a responsible manner.