Panji living lab turns bottle caps into teaching tool for circular economy

Singaraja — — Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha) is piloting a village‑scale circular economy model in Panji, Buleleng, by turning discarded plastic bottle caps into new products through a student workshop at the Bhuana Utama Berseri TPS 3R waste facility.

The activity formed part of the Living Lab Desa Adat Panji: Transformasi Pengelolaan Sampah Menuju Desa Berkelanjutan melalui Ekonomi Sirkular dan Inovasi Saintek, a program that promotes waste sorting, processing and reuse as a way to add value and reduce reliance on simple collection and disposal, according to Indonesian public broadcaster RRI Singaraja.

RRI reported that the living lab is supported by Indonesia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and the Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) through the Bestari Saintek funding scheme.

From bottle caps to processed material

During the Panji workshop, sixth‑grade students from SD Lab Undiksha Singaraja were guided through a step‑by‑step process that treats plastic bottle caps as a recoverable resource rather than waste.

According to RRI’s account, the students first sorted the caps by colour, then shredded them using a machine, cleaned the resulting plastic pieces, heated the material in an oven and finally pressed it so it could be formed into products.

The report describes the exercise as an introduction to practical circular‑economy methods for schoolchildren, connecting classroom learning with hands‑on waste management at a village facility.

I Nyoman Laba Jayanta, an Undiksha academic who heads the Living Lab Desa Adat Panji program, told RRI that the initiative is designed to change how residents view waste by showing that materials commonly thrown away can be turned into inputs for useful goods and potential economic activity.

In a separate description of activities at TPS 3R Bhuana Utama Berseri, an article published by Undiksha’s Faculty of Economics notes that the Panji facility serves as a community‑based waste‑management site where residents are encouraged to apply the 3R principles of reduce, reuse and recycle, with environmental education embedded in the operations.

Teaching circular economy at village level

The Panji living lab positions waste processing as both an environmental measure and an economic opportunity.

Organisers quoted by RRI argue that waste has limited value when it is simply transported away, while sorting and processing can generate raw materials and products that may support livelihoods at village level.

RRI reported that one participating student expressed enthusiasm about learning how to manage waste and hoped to apply better sorting and processing practices in daily life, highlighting the educational focus of the program.

The living lab also includes plans to develop educational packages on waste management for students, creating structured learning materials linked to the facility’s operations, according to Undiksha sources.

Panji’s waste facility as an education hub

Bhuana Utama Berseri, the TPS 3R facility hosting the workshop, has been promoted as an environmental education destination where visitors can see how household waste is handled through the 3R approach.

Reporting on visits to the facility by educational teams in 2025 described how children and local youth were invited to view waste not as an endpoint but as the starting point for creative solutions, reinforcing the idea that waste management can support learning and innovation in rural Bali.

By turning bottle caps into processed plastic and experimenting with new products in front of students, the Panji living lab illustrates a practical circular‑economy sequence at village scale: identifying a recoverable material, separating it, processing it with appropriate equipment and exploring uses for the output.

Data points

• Location: TPS 3R Bhuana Utama Berseri, Panji village, Buleleng.
• Reported material: discarded plastic bottle caps.
• Participants: sixth‑grade students from SD Lab Undiksha Singaraja.
• Processing steps: sorting, shredding, cleaning, heating and pressing.
• Program support: Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and LPDP’s Bestari Saintek scheme.

Context

The Living Lab Desa Adat Panji is presented by Undiksha as a sustainability initiative that uses circular‑economy principles and science‑and‑technology innovation to transform village waste management through sorting, processing and reuse.

The bottle‑cap activity is one of several community‑based practices aimed at strengthening local capacity to manage rising waste volumes while introducing the idea that better handling of materials can create environmental benefits and open room for future economic initiatives.

Sources

• RRI Singaraja – "Sampah Jadi Produk Bernilai, Living Lab Panji Dorong Ekonomi Sirkular"
• Undiksha Faculty of Economics – "Kegiatan Pengelolaan Sampah di Desa Panji – TPS 3R Bhuana Utama Berseri"
• Media Indonesia – "Dua Desa Bali Jawab Tantangan Pendidikan dan Lingkungan"
• Jurnal Pengabdian Dosen Republik Indonesia – article on TPS3R Bhuana Utama Lestari as an environmental education tourism destination