Imagine planning a trip to Bali to enjoy the sea breeze, the smell of the sea, the tan you have been waiting, taking the instagram-worthy shots you have been wanting to post, and all is going well while you were watching the romantic sunset view while strolling on the sandy beach, and then, an incoming tide washes across your feet, leaving a wave of plastic bags, styrofoam boxes with rotten food, unshapely plastic bottles and nylon fishing nets entangled with seaweed.
How would you feel? Disappointed? Surely. No tourist would favour their vacation to be accompanied by trash.
In fact, this is exactly a potential problem feared by tourists' operators in Bali, Indonesia. The heavily polluted beaches threatens to ruin Indonesia's tourism industry. With so much plastic strewn across the shores, resorts are burying the mess beneath the sand, in a futile attempt to "clean" the beaches to make tourists happier.
WHERE DID THE WASTE COME FROM?
Inadequate waste management
CURRENT POLICIES
A commitment made at the World Oceans Summit on February 2017:
​
The Indonesian government pledged to devote US $1 billion to reducing 70% of its plastic debris by 2025.
​
Indonesia’s commitment is part of the UN’s new Clean Seas campaign, which aim to target consumer plastics through a range of actions such as curbing single use plastics - shopping bags and coffee cups - along with pressuring firms to reduce plastic packaging.
​
The planned national initiative would commence this year and will expect to engage ministries, agencies and local governments in controlling plastic wastes and tackle marine debris. Fifteen city administrations including Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar, Semarang, Medan and Batam and 11 ministries and state agencies including the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Marine Affairs and Fishery Ministry, and the Education and Culture Ministry, would be involved in this action plan. Other solutions proposed in this initiative includes implementing the waste-to-energy scheme, which would turn trash into usable energy. They would also seek cooperation with other counties such as Denmark and Australia to exchange information regarding new strategies and problems for the country.
​
Educating the school children, beach clean-ups, along with advocating for better waste management are among some ongoing efforts that several NGOs and individuals have organised to tackle plastic waste. One such campaign is the "Bye Bye Plastic Bags", led by a Bali-based environmental group which calls for an island-wide ban on plastic bags, alongside organising regular litter pick-ups.
PLASTIC FREE BALI @ BYE BYE PLASTIC BAGS
Source: The Yak Magazine