Implementasi Ekonomi Sirkular Melalui Pembuatan Lilin Aroma Terapi Di Desa Pagerageung Kabupaten Tasikmalaya

Abstract

Used cooking oil, is oil that has been used more than once for frying food. Consuming used cooking oil as a source of fried food has carcinogenic effects on human health due to the molecular structure changes caused by high temperatures during the frying process. Additionally, disposing of used cooking oil into waterways, rivers, and soil leads to environmental pollution. This community service program aims to raise awareness, provide exposure, and train the PKK (Family Welfare Program) members of RT 01 RW 04 Desa Pagerageung to recycle used cooking oil into aromatherapy candles for use at home or in their businesses as an implementation of a sircular economy. The approach includes identifying the community and training location, preparing socialization and demonstrations, interactive training, and monitoring results. The process of making aromatherapy candles is simplified to match the community's background knowledge and home facilities. Used cooking oil is processed with candle dyes, cotton candle wicks, lavender essential oil, stearic acid, and paraffin/candle hardener. Participants benefited from the knowledge transfer program, increasing their awareness and receiving positive impacts measured through focus group discussions using pre- and post-activity questionnaires. This community service not only enhances awareness of the importance of recycling used cooking oil but also highlights the potential for generating new income through the production of aromatherapy candles from used oil, thereby improving the community's economy.