xmass-Eve
Contributor
I lived next to Bali for 5 years. It wasn't every day as bad as in the video but, in rainy season, lots of days it came very close to this. We tried to help with cleaning up while diving, while waiting for the boat to pick us up, and being on the boat picking up other people. It really was disgusting sometimes!
On the island I lived, Gili Trawangan, there is the Gili Eco Trust. They do lots of things to bring recycling and awareness to the island. Plastic bags should be forbidden by now, straws already were. They reuse the glass bottles and make stuff with it. They bought some burner to clean up the waste better after recycling... The dive shops help lots and every diver is asked to pay 50.000 IDR (3 dollar) to support. Sadly enough the other tourists aren't asked for any help and they are also part of the problem. To lazy to clean up their waste after leaving the beach. Chips bags, beer bottles, cigarette butts... They all leave it behind for the tide to take. Every friday, the GET and dive shops do beach clean-ups and sometimes there is more than 200 pbs collected.
Sadly enough, the biggest part comes from the locals. They have no idea about recycling. The government never told them. The parents don't tell the children because they have no clue themselves. And Indonesians use LOTS of plastic. In stead of using big reusable gallons for water, they use all these small cups they throw away. Pots and bags for noedels, plastic bags for every grocery item, cigarettes by the millions... And they just throw it in the river. Rainy season comes and all goes to the sea... Maybe now, with all this foreign attention, the local government will do something about it. I really hope so...
On the island I lived, Gili Trawangan, there is the Gili Eco Trust. They do lots of things to bring recycling and awareness to the island. Plastic bags should be forbidden by now, straws already were. They reuse the glass bottles and make stuff with it. They bought some burner to clean up the waste better after recycling... The dive shops help lots and every diver is asked to pay 50.000 IDR (3 dollar) to support. Sadly enough the other tourists aren't asked for any help and they are also part of the problem. To lazy to clean up their waste after leaving the beach. Chips bags, beer bottles, cigarette butts... They all leave it behind for the tide to take. Every friday, the GET and dive shops do beach clean-ups and sometimes there is more than 200 pbs collected.
Sadly enough, the biggest part comes from the locals. They have no idea about recycling. The government never told them. The parents don't tell the children because they have no clue themselves. And Indonesians use LOTS of plastic. In stead of using big reusable gallons for water, they use all these small cups they throw away. Pots and bags for noedels, plastic bags for every grocery item, cigarettes by the millions... And they just throw it in the river. Rainy season comes and all goes to the sea... Maybe now, with all this foreign attention, the local government will do something about it. I really hope so...
