Bali declares ‘garbage emergency’ amid sea of waste

[Thailandbound]

Bali declares ‘garbage emergency’ amid sea of waste

ONCE dubbed a paradise on earth, the holiday island of Bali has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem.

BALI’S palm-fringed Kuta beach has long been a favourite with tourists seeking sun and surf, but nowadays its golden shoreline is disappearing under a mountain of garbage.
Plastic straws and food packaging are strewn between sunbathers, while surfers bobbing behind the waves dodge waste flushed out from rivers or brought in by swirling currents.

“When I want to swim, it is not really nice. I see a lot of garbage here every day, every time,” Austrian traveller Vanessa Moonshine explains.

“It’s always coming from the ocean. It’s really horrible.”
Often dubbed a paradise on earth, the Indonesian holiday island has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem.

The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is the world’s second biggest contributor to marine debris after China, and a colossal 1.29 million metric tons is estimated to be produced annually by Indonesia.


The waves of plastic flooding into rivers and oceans have been causing problems for years — clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injuring or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging.

The problem has grown so bad that officials in Bali last month declared a “garbage emergency” across a 6km stretch of coast that included popular beaches Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak.

Officials deployed 700 cleaners and 35 trucks to remove roughly 100 tons of debris each day to a nearby landfill. “People with green uniforms were collecting the garbage to move it away but the next day I saw the same situation,” said Claus Dignas, a German who claimed he saw more garbage with each visit to the island.
“No one wants to sit on nice beach chairs and facing all this rubbish.”

Bali’s rubbish problem is at its worst during the annual monsoon season, when strong winds push marine flotsam on to the beach and swollen rivers wash rubbish from riverbanks to the coast, according to Putu Eka Merthawan from the local environment agency.

“This garbage does not come from people living in Kuta and nearby areas,” he told AFP.
“It would be suicidal if Kuta people were doing it.” Some 72km from Kuta, Mount Agung has been threatening to erupt for two months, prompting tourists to cancel visits and displacing tens of thousands of villagers living within a 10km-radius of the volcano’s crater.

But the island’s waste problem is no less of a threat, said I Gede Hendrawan, an environmental oceanography researcher from Bali’s Udayana University.
“Garbage is aesthetically disturbing to tourists, but [the] plastic waste issue is way more serious,” he told AFP.

“Microplastics can contaminate fish which, if eaten by humans, could cause health problems including cancer.” Indonesia is one of nearly 40 countries that are part of UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign, which aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans. As part of its commitment, the government has pledged to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 per cent by 2025.

It plans to boost recycling services, curb the use of plastic bags, launch clean-up campaigns and raise public awareness.

Still, the scale of the problem facing Indonesia is huge, due to its population of more than 250 million people and poor waste processing infrastructure.

Mr Hendrawan, who says both locals and tourists are responsible for the island’s rubbish problem, urged authorities to invest more resources to tackle the problem.
“The Bali government should spare more budget to raise people’s awareness to take care of local rivers, not to dump waste,” he said.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/asia/bali-declares-garbage-emergency-amid-sea-of-waste/news-story/3a18c66757d8d832f294fc90a3b4e1ab





What a sad state of affairs to see a beautiful island such as Bali with a huge plastic problem. I'd hate to sit on that beach looking at the plastic. Too sad for words.

[Thailandbound]

double post

[cyrille]

Easter Island, not far from Indonesia.

[Thailandbound]

A first in Bali: turning trash into alternative energy

JAN 17, 2018

Bali is taking the central government's decisions to develop alternative energy sources seriously and in East Bali, one of the island's poorest regions one of the best initiatives is happening.

In a groundbreaking exercise the District Government (Pemkab) of Klungkung in cooperation with the Technical High School (STT), PLN (State Energy Company) and Indonesia Power have collaborated to develop alternative energy from trash according to local news wires Tribun News and Bali Post.

The programme is called the Tempat Olah Sampah Setempat(TOSS) and is a school programme in research and development with open innovation methods. It is the first of its kind in Bali and it is hoped it will overcome the problems of waste in urban areas as well as issues with electricity shortages.

The Bupati (Regent) of Klungkung in East Bali, I Nyoman Suwirta is optimistic that the TOSS programme will not only reduce environmental pollution but also benefit the local community by building a new creative economy.

There are two systems at work in the initiative:
1. Converting waste into gas using a bio-activator tool and the gas is then used to drive generators.
2. Converting waste into briquettes, which are then sold to PLN as well as being used for cooking.


Suwirta is convinced the TOSS program is both economical and environmentally friendly and he expects every village in the regency to process its waste into briquettes and electricity.

To support this expectation he has offered to provide equipment and space for larger machines to accommodate the initiative, which in these early stages is expected to reduce up to 32 tons of waste and convert it into 5 Megawatts of electricity.

https://gapurabali.com/news/2018/01/...rgy/1516146347


I'm not sure what a briquette is? This sounds quite innovative and ground breaking.

[cyrille]

double post

Distance from Jakarta to Easter Island: 14,666 km

[CaptainNemo]

He's muddling it up with Christmas... easily done.

the TOSS programme will not only reduce environmental pollution but also benefit the local community by building a new creative economy.

They might want to rethink that acronym.

[SKkin]

Austrian traveller Vanessa Moonshine

There's a fine old Austrian name.

[Thailandbound]

He's muddling it up with Christmas... easily done.

She..., but yes, that's right.

I had written that the story reminded me of a video from the BBC about green turtles being stuck in plastic on the beach on Christmas Island.

I could not find the video, but have found it. So terribly sad.