Hundreds of volunteers took part in a major beach clean-up on Saturday in Bali, an Indonesian island popular with tourists, after monsoon rains caused one of the “worst” strandings of plastic waste ever known. alarmed an environmental NGO.
The NGO Sungai Watch described these strandings as waste pire
known plastic pollution on Bali beaches.
We have never seen such an accumulation of plastic waste, one meter high, on the sand. In just six days of cleaning, we collected 25 tonnes, which is a record for us.
On Kedonganan Beach in the south of the island, plastic cups, straws, cutlery and empty coffee bags are scattered on the sand, mixed with plant and wood debris.
Around 600 volunteers, including local residents, hospitality workers and tourists, braved a rainy morning to collect the waste by hand, filling hundreds of large bags.
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Volunteers remove plastic trash and other trash washed up on a beach on the island of Bali, Indonesia, January 4, 2025.
Photo : afp via getty images / SONNY TUMBELAKA
Tatiana Komelova, a Russian tourist and volunteer during the operation, said she was shocked at the sight of this waste and confided that she now wants to reduce her daily use of plastic.
I knew this problem existed, but I didn’t know it was this serious
she laments.
I use a lot of products made of plastic in my daily life; From now on I will try to reduce them as much as possible.
According to an audit, the majority of this plastic waste generally comes from cities in Java, Indonesia’s most populated island, said Gary Bencheghib.
No agreement on plastic pollution
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest contributors to plastic pollution and marine debris, particularly when monsoon rains and winds carry mountains of waste from urban areas and rivers into the ocean.
Some of this waste drifts hundreds of kilometers – the phenomenon increasing between November and March – before washing up on the beaches of the paradise island of Bali, very popular with foreign tourists, particularly for end-of-year holidays. ‘year.
In early December, week-long negotiations in Busan, South Korea, to reach a global treaty against plastic pollution failed in the face of opposition from a group of oil-producing countries. They must resume at a later date.
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