The Story of Pandi, the "Crazy Man" from Rancaekek Who Made Garbage a Beautiful WorkBANDUNG, KOMPAS.com - For Pandi Mulyana (38), trash is a scattered diamond.It's not strange, if he considers a mound of garbage as a mountain of gold.In his hands, trash can be transformed into something valuable.He has made hundreds of works of art made from waste.Starting from paintings, flower pots, tables, photo frames, bonsai, to aquariums.To Kompas.com, this bald-headed man recounted how he first entered the world of the environment and recycles waste into works of art.Also read: Ohin, Nagreg Landslide Victim Patiently Waiting For Home Repair When His Legs Are ParalyzedVulnerable in 2018, Pandi is embarrassed by the piles of garbage that are often seen and extend near his residence, right along Jalan Walini."Indeed, in the past on Jalan Walini, there was an extraordinary accumulation of garbage, it might be difficult to dispose of it," he said when met on Tuesday (24/5/2022).Garbage on Jalan Walini, he said, is garbage from the surrounding community.The garbage clogs the sewers.Worse yet, the community already considers Jalan Ciwalini a final disposal site (TPA)."So the garbage that clogs the flow of the sewers, comes from upstream, then gets stuck there. There are also people who litter there. This is because of the mindset of throwing garbage in its place, maybe thinking that Jalan Walini is a trash can," he said.Infuriated because he often saw people throwing garbage there, Pandi thought about how to get rid of the pile of garbage.Not just moving trash from one place to another, he also wants the trash to be something useful.According to him, transporting garbage by trucks and then dumping it into a Final Disposal Site (TPA) is not a concrete solution.KOMPAS.com/M.Elgana Mubarokah Pandi Mulyana succeeded in creating works of art from various types of waste.The idea emerged when he was furious to see the condition of the garbage that had piled up near his house in Babakan Asta Village RT 02 RW 11, Rancaekek Wetan Village, Rancaekek District, Bandung Regency, West Java."Our area can be cleaned, but the waste is moved to someone else's area. Because if it is moved by a garbage truck it is not a solution but only a problem. This means that there needs to be a sustainable solution, I think it will be more profitable to use," he explained.For Pandi, piles of garbage are a magnet for anyone.Once illegal dumping occurs and is left unchecked, it will continue in the future."In my opinion, garbage is like a magnet, because when there is a pile of garbage, it will certainly continue to be added," he explained.The trash that Pandi uses to become a work of art consists of many things.Starting from diapers, used tires, blankets, masks, broken glass (shards), firewood, chunks of wood, to the remains of fallen trees.When interviewed by Kompas.com, Pandi is currently using diapers to create art in the form of flower pots."I took the initiative how this pampers waste should be a very beautiful work," he said.KOMPAS.com/M.Elgana Mubarokah Pandi Mulyana succeeded in creating works of art from various types of waste.The idea emerged when he was furious to see the condition of the garbage that had piled up near his house in Babakan Asta Village RT 02 RW 11, Rancaekek Wetan Village, Rancaekek District, Bandung Regency, West Java.The move to use diapers is not without encouragement.In 2019, Pandi received information from a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) that diapers can be used as flower pots or vases."I was also initially surprised why I had to waste pampers even though there were many other ingredients, but he only provided information regarding how to make it," he said.Pandi admitted that after getting inspiration from an ITB lecturer, he then tried to make art from diapers."Two days I did not sleep to find my own way. As a result I was able to create it," said Pandi.The process of making art from waste, especially diapers, said Pandi, is not as easy as turning your hand.Repeatedly failing in the process of making art does not make him give up.Sure enough, the process did not betray the results, Pandi managed to make pots and flower vases from diapers waste."It was because I was impatient in the manufacturing process, in the end I failed. But it was precisely from that failure that led me to know how to make it successful," he explained.KOMPAS.com/M.Elgana Mubarokah Pandi Mulyana succeeded in creating works of art from various types of waste.The idea emerged when he was furious to see the condition of the garbage that had piled up near his house in Babakan Asta Village RT 02 RW 11, Rancaekek Wetan Village, Rancaekek District, Bandung Regency, West Java.Success in making pots and flower vases from diapers does not necessarily make him satisfied.His artistic experiments continued to develop.In fact, he created bonsai from firewood and diapers, then paintings from old tires, as well as ornaments made of glass waste.Even with the waste of masks during the Covid-19 Pandemic, he made it into a painting."After I managed to make a pot, I finally continued to make a replica of a bonsai like this. I also made a painting from used car tires, I took the big one and then made a pot with the pieces being used as a frame for painting, I also made a mask for painting. Ornaments from broken things I also make used items such as used glass, broken plates and others as works of art," he explained.Pandi admitted that he had consumed more than one ton of diapers waste."If we do our calculations from 2019 until now, there have been more than one ton of diaper waste for making works," he said.In the process of making works of art, he continued, the speed of production cannot be calculated concretely.KOMPAS.COM/M.Elgana Mubarokah Pandi Mulyana succeeded in creating works of art from various types of waste.The idea emerged when he was furious to see the condition of the garbage that had piled up near his house in Babakan Asta Village RT 02 RW 11, Rancaekek Wetan Village, Rancaekek District, Bandung Regency, West Java.The reason is, every work of art that he creates has a different character and level of difficulty."One work itself in terms of the time of manufacture varies, there can be one day or more, depending on the weather because the longest is the drying process, the media uses cement. Drying can be done in two to three days," he said.So far, Pandi has never had a problem getting trash.On the contrary, he had experienced confusion due to excess garbage in his house."I've never had a problem with materials, in fact there were too many of them, because there are a lot of materials that can be obtained in our environment," he said.In fact, he once got 1 ton of pampers to be processed into a work of art."There was one incident that someone gave a one tonne diaper donation that was still suitable for use, but I distributed it first to the community so that it was used first, then after it was used and turned into garbage, I took it back," he said.Even so, there is not the slightest intention in his heart to sell his art.But he did not refuse if anyone wanted or had the fruit of his work.He admitted that the highest price for his artwork is still below one million.KOMPAS.COM/M.Elgana Mubarokah Pandi Mulyana succeeded in creating works of art from various types of waste.The idea emerged when he was furious to see the condition of the garbage that had piled up near his house in Babakan Asta Village RT 02 RW 11, Rancaekek Wetan Village, Rancaekek District, Bandung Regency, West Java."This work of art is priceless, I want to sell it cheaply but this is a work of art, I want it to be expensive, I'm afraid that people won't want it and judge that the price I offer is not in accordance with my work," he added."No, I don't set a price, basically I don't want to sell, I'm afraid my creative process will freeze because I think about money. But if anyone wants to please, the price will be returned to those who want it," he continued.Even though he doesn't sell his art, Pandi often gets various awards and certificates.This was evident from the rows of award certificates that lined the living room of his room."Many certificates of appreciation, results from exhibiting his work to being asked to become a presenter at universities to inspire students, as well as being invited by the government," he said.As observed by Kompas.com, every painting produced by Pandi Mulyana is always themed on the beauty of nature.This, he said, did not come by itself.Her involvement with the environment is the background to the theme of natural beauty in each of her paintings."Because I started from anxiety about seeing the surrounding environment, so I don't know why every time I want to draw the inspiration I get regarding dreams of natural beauty, healthy nature, cool nature, free from garbage, even though the actual situation may not be like that," he explained. ."I was able to draw this from a year back or in 2019, because the initial demands were to make a pot like it would be more beautiful combined with the image," he continued.Especially for bonsai, he said he had seen and read about Penjing art.It is also suspected that he created a bonsai replica from trash."I've seen references to penjing art. Where penjing art is older than bonsai art, when bonsai is considered more ancient it turns out pengging is more ancient. Because penjing art is a blend of nature with dead trees," he said.Read also: The story of Gudianto, a taxi driver in Surabaya who provides free snacks to medicines for passengersPandi's journey into the world of the environment is not as beautiful and easy as one might think.He is well aware of the consequences of building awareness in the midst of habits inherent in society, such as throwing out garbage.He was even called crazy by the people of Rancaekek District.Not only that, his actions also ignited the emotions of local residents which led to the threat of imprisoning Pandi."Moving in that environment has many ups and downs, before I made this work in Rancaekek, it went viral, was considered irresponsible, and even wanted to be imprisoned after cleaning up trash on the side of the road," he said.But the threat did not make him flinch.In fact, his place of residence in Babakan Asta Village RT 02 RW 11, Rancaekek Wetan Village, Rancaekek District, Bandung Regency, West Java was turned into a Creative House."But that didn't dampen my enthusiasm, instead it became evidence that when it was considered crazy, I proved it even crazier through my works and my creative house," he concluded.Write your comments with the hashtag #JernihBerkomentar and win e-vouchers for 90 winners!Get information and insight selected by Kompas.com editorsDouble check and complete your data.Your data will be used for account verification when you need assistance or when unusual activity is found on your account.Immediately complete your data to join the #JernihBerkomentar program.