The idyllic beaches of Bali, a popular destination for tourists from all over the world, have been transformed in the space of a few days into a desolate landscape. 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 took part in a major beach clean-up on Saturday as monsoon rains caused one of the “worst” plastic waste strandings ever known, the environmental NGO “Sungai Watch” was alarmed.
“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,” notes Gary Bencheghib, founder of the NGO.
The hundreds of volunteers, including local residents, hospitality workers and tourists, braved a rainy morning to collect trash by hand, filling hundreds of large bags.
According to an audit, the majority of this plastic waste generally comes from cities in Java, Indonesia’s most populated island, said Gary Bencheghib. Indonesia is one of the world’s largest contributors of plastic pollution and marine debris, especially when monsoon rains and winds carry mountains of trash 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.
