Recycle craft program management as an effort to empower students in realizing a clean, creative, and sustainable school ecosystem

Environmental education is a process that aims to form students’ understanding, attitudes, and skills in maintaining the sustainability of the school ecosystem. In this context, the Recycle Craft program is one of the creative approaches that not only focuses on waste management, but also on empowering students as agents of change in the school environment. This research aims to analyze the management of the Recycle Craft program as an effort to empower students in realizing a clean, creative, and sustainable school ecosystem. The research was carried out at the UNESA Lidah Wetan Surabaya Labschool, covering elementary, junior high, and high school levels. The qualitative approach of the case study was used by involving in-depth interviews with the principal, supervisors, program coordinators, and student groups, accompanied by participatory observation and documentation of activities during the program. The results of the thematic analysis show four main findings: (1) structured program management through planning, teacher training, and curriculum integration is able to strengthen program sustainability; (2) student empowerment emerges through active involvement in upcycling activities, group collaboration, and creative problem-solving; (3) the Recycle Craft program has an impact on the formation of environmentally caring habits in daily practice in schools; and (4) sustainability challenges such as limited resources and implementation consistency require coordination between educational units.