Over the past decade, the Textile and Textile Products (TPT) industry in Indonesia has risen sharply alongside the increasing demand for clothing and lifestyle needs. However, the textile industry still relies on conventional methods that produce hazardous waste, especially from the dyeing process, which is the most significant contributor to environmental waste. Moreover, the current management of Wastewater Treatment Plants (IPAL) has not effectively handled the waste produced.
Driven by these concerns, Erwinda Dwi Chofifah and Kotimah, students from the Faculty of Biology, class of 2022, initiated a solution focusing on the upstream production process of textiles by creating an eco-friendly biomaterial based on bacterial cellulose with the ability to produce color pigments (self-pigmented biotextile). Under the guidance of Tyas Ikhsan Hikmawan, S.Si., M.S., Ph.D., this innovation, named I-CHERA, was introduced at the essay competition of the Geography and Geoscience Olympiad (OGG) organized by the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology (FITB) at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
After passing a series of administrative and document selections, I-CHERA made it into the top 10 best works and had the opportunity to be presented in person on June 21-23, 2024, at ITB. Targeting the sub-theme “Green Industrial Revolution through Sustainable Industrialization Practices,” I-CHERA outperformed other projects proposed by hundreds of student teams from various universities across Indonesia and won 1st place. Erwinda and Kotimah hope this innovation will help Indonesia realize a green industrial revolution in the future.