Coconuts are a big deal in Purwokerto, the Indonesian community where Sefirstya “Sabrina” Shabrinazzahrani lives.

Indonesians love coconut water, she explains, but with widespread coconut consumption comes a huge waste product that communities are forced to deal with: coconut husks.

“We produce more than 300,000 tons of coconut husk waste every year in Indonesia,” Shabrinazzahrani says, “and when we let them rot, we have another problem, which is dengue.”

Dengue fever is spread by mosquitoes, which find a fertile breeding ground in moist piles of accumulated coconut husks. Indonesia is one of the 30 most highly endemic countries for dengue in the world – in 2024, more than 149,000 cases of dengue had been reported as of July 1.

But Shabrinazzahrani wants to help solve the coconut waste problem, starting in Purwokerto, where she’s the owner of a plant shop called Simungil Cactus that is focused on both the affordability and the sustainability of ornamental plants.