Bali woke up on the morning of Christmas Eve to discover yet more tides of plastic waste washed up on Jimbaran Beach.
The traditional coastal fishing village and tourism resort is often the worst impacted by tides of plastic waste, along with famous vacation hotspots like Kuta, Legian, and Seminyak.
As documented by the founder of environmental NGO Sungai Watch, on the evening of 23rd December 2024, a tide of plastic waste was deposited along Jimbaran Beach. Gary Bencheghib, shared a video on his Instagram page of plastic debris deposited all along the expansive beachfront at Jimbaran Bay.
Jimbaran Beach and Kedonganan Beach often receive the worst of the plastic tide deposits due to the flow of ocean currents though, over the weekend Dreamland Beach, further south along the Bukit Peninsula, saw a shocking tide of plastic waste and ocean debris land on the usually picture-perfect holiday resort.
On Saturday and Sunday, teams from Sungai Watch, accompanied by local volunteers and even tourists who wanted to lend a hand, came together to clear the trash from the beach. It is not only plastic waste, but ocean debris like driftwood.
In light of recent flooding across Bali due to a usually heavy monsoon season means that trash, plastic waste, and debris gathered by flood waters have come from the inland regions out into the ocean and then carried back into the shoreline on the high tide.
The central south of Bali’s coastline is being barraged by waste from all angles.
Local social media citizen journalism sites shared footage of tourist children even helping out trash disposal teams over the weekend, helping drag bags of trash together, and rummaging through the debris to help separate organic from inorganic waste.
On the 22nd of December, a tide of mostly organic debris washed up on the beachfront at Kuta Beach. Hundreds of tree branches and tree trunks were deposited high up on the beach and onto the beach walk, followed by meters of plastic waste right behind.
Many local residents have been questioning why there has not been a bigger response from the Bali Provincial Government or any official statements from top officials regarding the tides of trash, especially as the Christmas and New Year public holidays get underway.
Speaking on the 10th of December, when the first sizeable plastic tide arrived along Kuta, Legian, and Seminyak Beach, known as Samigita Beach, the Coordinator of Marine Debris Evacuation Detection of the Badung LHK Service, Made Gede Dwipayan, spoke to reporters about the system in place to tackle is an annual and worsening phenomenon.
He confirmed that over 75 trucks are available to support staff from the Badung Regency Environment and Sanitation Agency (LHK) to clear up the Samigita Beaches quickly and efficiently.
While plastic tides are an unavoidable reality for Kuta Beach, Legian Beach, Seminyak Beach, Jimbaran Beach, Pantai German and Dreamland Beach at this time of year, there are many beaches across Bali that generally remain unaffected due to their proximity to the ocean currents that tend to carry the debris.
Amed Beach, Tulamben Beach, and the beaches along the southeasterly and east coasts of Bali remain trash-free throughout the year.
It should be noted that as plastic waste continues to be a growing problem for the world’s oceans, it is an unfortunate truth that every beach in the world has been affected by plastic pollution to some degree.
Nevertheless, for tourists seeking expanses of pristine beaches this December and January, destinations like Sanur Beach, Candidasa Beach, Medewi Beach, Lovina Beach and the Nusa Islands can be reliably added to the bucket list.
The black sand beaches of Gianyar, including Keramas Beach are also crowd-free at this time of year too…a rare treat in Bali!
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Ran
Tuesday 31st of December 2024
I just returned from Legian beach in December 2024 for Christmas and can’t believe what I saw. I will never return. I don’t know how i missed this important piece of information after months of planning my honeymoon, largely because I never imagined I’d have to look into the garbage issue in Bali. We arrived at the 5 star hotel, walked out to the beach, and I wanted to spend the rest of the time at the pool. We went to Bali for the beach but it was like I was transported back to Haiti. The entire coast was full of garbage. We walked for an hour during sunset, and it was a stream of garbage with giant mounds of trash sitting there and stinking up the sea air. I paid for 2x 10-hour days of inland driver to take us to different places and we spent 60% of the time in the car sitting in traffic. Again, the broken streets full of garbage. we got so sick from the drive for 3 days, I forfeited our booking the next day just to sit t the hotel pool the rest of the week. A local bar owner said they blame Java and the government doesn’t do anything about it. I only saw tractors on the beach 3/7 days that entire week and when they finished, they only scooped up about 50% of the rubbish. We couldn’t even take our sandals off to walk in the sand and afraid to get into the water. I will never return. How sad for the great people of Bali.
Ute Ernst
Friday 3rd of January 2025
@Ran Hallo Ran, ich bin gerade noch bis Montag, 6.1.2025 in Legian in einem Hotel nahe dem Strand. Alles was du geschrieben hast, trifft zu. Ich selbst habe es gestern und heute noch einmal gesehen. Und die Müll Traktore kommen nicht jeden Tag. Was ich ebenfalls beobachtet habe ist, dass es vielen Menschen am Strand egal ist wie der aussieht. Hauptsache ich war am Strand von Bali und habe mich dort selbstporträtiert. Es ist schlimm für mich, dass Menschen zusehen, wie es hier aussieht. Für mich ist es der erste und letzte Besuch gewesen hier. Ich finde es unverantwortlich, wie die Regierung mit diesem Abfallproblem umgeht.
Jess
Monday 30th of December 2024
It’s locals and tourists alike and both are bc there is no reliable sanitation system outside of heavily touristed areas. There are no easily accessible trash collection services for many people and with clean water being a scarcity and reusable items costing significantly more, obviously rituals and clubs alike use single use plastics rather than purchase and wash reusable glassware. There’s a lot of finger pointing from tourists blaming local Balinese folks but first, Indonesia as a whole isn’t giving them the same support many of our home countries give us and second, just because people in these comments might be more aware doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of awful and self absorbed tourists in Bali.
Steve bm
Tuesday 31st of December 2024
@Jess, rubbish
Lloyd
Friday 27th of December 2024
The locals that live in the hills and mountains need to stop sump their rubbish into the rivers and valleys. That is where the rubbish on the beaches comes from..
Steve bm
Sunday 29th of December 2024
@Lloyd, and on the flat too mate it piles up in the dry drains many enclosed in flat areas too. Even in many backstreet of the tourist areas it's all piled up everywhere
Lloyd
Friday 27th of December 2024
Not every beach is affected by plastic waste. Shoalwater Bay, Safety Bay,Warnbro Sound are all pristine. .
ganivet
Thursday 26th of December 2024
Island of the gods is blasphemy, island of garbage is more like it