Semarang, 9 October 2025 – The Student Association of the Communication Studies Programme at Universitas Diponegoro held an event entitled ‘A Drop of Waste Cooking Oil, A Million Meanings’, which consisted of a workshop on processing used cooking oil into soap, a counselling session on environmental issues, and the creation of creative content as a medium for campaigning on sustainable environmental issues.

This activity aims to educate participants about the dangers of waste cooking oil and provide practical solutions by processing it into useful products. In addition, students are encouraged to voice their concern for the environment by creating communication content that is interesting and easy for the general community to understand.

According to the committee, content creation is a distinctive feature of this activity because communication students not only learn environmentally friendly practices, but are also taught how to spread environmental messages through digital platforms. ‘We want this small action to have a bigger impact through social media and creative communication works,’ said Ellensia, PIC of the Commlabs programme.

The event took place in Bangetayu Kulon Village and was attended by enthusiastic residents, with 64 participants in attendance. The series of events began with a presentation on content creation by Citra Safira M.Ikom, a lecturer in the communication studies programme, followed by a workshop on processing waste cooking oil into soap by partner organisation Back-ind. After the workshop, the winners of the best content competition created by each group were announced. At the end of the event, students from the Communication Studies programme at Universitas Diponegoro symbolically presented Bangetayu Kulon Village with guava tree seedlings with the aim of preserving the surrounding environment. Throughout the event, participants gained hands-on experience in making soap from waste oil while also designing environmental campaign content ready for publication through the social media accounts created as part of this year’s Commlabs sustainability programme.

Through this activity, the Universitas Diponegoro Communication Science Student Association hopes to raise public awareness that protecting the environment can be done through simple steps, but can still have a broad impact if voiced creatively. ***