Two of Bali’s most famous beaches are still being hit with barrages of ocean plastic. Jimbaran Beach and Kedonganan Beach, in South Bali, are famed for being worst affected by tides of ocean trash.
As the monsoon season lingers, deposits of ocean debris continue to be dumped along the shoreline.
The last notable tide of plastic waste that washed up on Kedonganan Beach was at the beginning of January 2025. Local government, NGOs, local communities, and tourists banded together over the weekend of the 4-5th of January to clear tonnes upon tonnes of debris from the beachfront.
While there have been several sizeable deposits since this week has seen another major swell of ocean wasteland on the beach. Overall, however, the size of the deposits is decreasing. The issue is also being seen across the beaches of the central south of Bali, from Jimbaran and Kedonagan, through to Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and even Canggu. The long stretch of coastline between Kuta and Seminyak is known locally as Samigita.
The Coordinator of Marine Debris Detection and Evacuation of the Badung Environment and Cleanliness Agency, Made Gde Dwipayana. He shared “It had subsided for a few days but now the trash is starting to appear again. Now the trash has appeared quite a lot in Kedonganan and Jimbaran. But at Samigita Beach it has subsided a bit, but it’s still there.”
He revealed that on average 20 tons of debris is cleared from the beach fronts every day, amounting to 10 truckloads of waste. Dwipayana shared that at Jimbaran Beach much of the debris is comprised of driftwood, while at Kedonganan there is far more plastic waste.
Dwipayana explained “Compared to Samigita Beach, the amount of trash sent is thin, in fact, it is clean, very little trash. But our team still went down to clean up the trash there. The volume of trash is thin, not as bad as in Kedonganan and Jimbaran like now.”
To help combat the issue, the Badung Environment and Cleanliness Agency has deployed two loaders, two excavators, and two crawler carriers to the Kedonganan and Jimbaran areas. Cleaning teams have been working from the early hours of the morning and have been completing their work by around 10 am each day, meaning the beaches are as clean as possible by the time tourists tend to arrive.
Dwipayana confirmed that there had been no formal complaints from tourists. He noted, “So far there have been no complaints from tourists because usually cleaning is up to 10 am for cleaning staff.” He confirmed that the heavy machinery is parked up after 10 am as not to disrupt the public’s enjoyment of the beach.
On Monday 24th February Military Command, Major General TNI Muhammad Zamroni, deployed hundreds of army personnel to support teams from the Badung Environment and Cleanliness Agency to tackle the worst of the most recent tides of trash. The beach clean-up operation was a timely endeavor as it fell on Indonesia’s National Waste Awareness Day.
Major Zamroni invited all elements of society, including business actors and environmental communities, to play an active role in maintaining the cleanliness of the beach and its surrounding environment.
He shared “As a form of concern, the TNI [army] together with the community have been directly cleaning the beach for some time now. This action must continue with individual awareness in managing waste, both at home, in the surrounding environment, and on business premises. All parties are expected to participate in maintaining cleanliness by not littering.”
He added “A clean beach will attract tourists, support economic growth, and bring prosperity to the community. With the spirit of togetherness and collaboration, let us preserve the beautiful, authentic, and peaceful Bali.”
Though plastic waste is found on almost every single beach on earth, there are areas of Bali’s coastline that are seldom impacted by tides of ocean debris.
Notably the central south of the island is worst affected throughout the year. However, heading towards coastal resorts such as Candidasa, Padangbai, and Amed in East Bali, or Pemuteran, Lovina, and West Bali National Park to the north and west of the province, is always a good idea!
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