Tourists Join Collective Efforts To Clean Bali’s Beaches

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In the last week, some of Bali’s most popular tourist beaches have been hit by tidal waves of plastic waste.

With garbage piling up over 10cm across Kedonganan Beach and across the Kuta area, it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation to clear up the disaster. 

In a story that is still unfolding, the Badung Environment and Hygiene Service (LHK) has deployed three loader units to speed up the process of cleaning up consigned waste at Kedonganan Beach in the Jimbaran resort area.

This is in addition to one hundred clean-up operators and community volunteer garage collectors, including some tourists.

As a result of the cleaning since 8 am on Wednesday, 20th March, the cleaning crews managed to collect at least 100 tons of waste, which was dominated by plastic waste, and there’s more to go. 

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Speaking to reporters, the LHK Marine Debris Evacuation Detection Coordinator, Made Gede Dwipayana, explained, “We have deployed a total of three loader units.”

“Now we are directing it there (Kedonganan Beach), while at Seminyak, Legian, and Kuta beaches, the rubbish has subsided somewhat.”

Bali’s Sungai Watch team has supported the clean-up efforts. The NGO conducts river and beach clean-ups across Bali every year and is one of the most impactful environmental groups in the province.

Giri Mariani, Clean Up Coordinator for Sungai Watch, said, “We already know that consigned rubbish is always pulled over every year at Kedonganan Beach, so this can be said to be cleaned up, which is very urgent.”

“We have been cleaning here regularly since 2021. We have coordinated with the Badung LHK Service and also local residents regarding our intention to clean up rubbish here.”

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Mariani added, “We care about the environment, especially in river areas, because we try to prevent rubbish from rivers from escaping into the sea.”

Mariani expressed the hope that more efforts will be invested in tackling Bali’s ever-mounting waste management issues on behalf of Sungai Watch and the wider community.

Mariani said. “We also hope that the central government can be firm in waste management and increase knowledge about waste management from an early age among school children.”

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In 2015 and 2016, the tidal wave of trash that washed up on Kendonganan Beach reached 50cm deep in places.

While the 10cm of this latest tragedy is comparatively small, it is the first the area has seen in the last couple of years and is spread wide along the beachfront.

Clean-up teams are prepared for the fact the worst may be yet to come. 

Dwipayana told reporters earlier this week, “This is not the first phenomenon, but it is a regular occurrence every year. If the west wind waste is on Kedonganan Beach it will definitely be plastic waste, if it’s south of Jimbaran it will definitely be wood waste and that’s normal.”

It is not only Kendonganan Beach that is being affected by tidal trash, but the island’s waterways, too. Sungai Watch has organized a community clean-up operation at Dreamland Beach for Friday, 22nd March.

Sungai Watch’s clean-up operations are managed by the Sungai Watch full-time clean-up crews, and the wider community and tourists are welcome to join. 

Santai and Drifter will participate in Friday’s beach clean-up as part of World Water Day. The session will run from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Dreamland Beach in Pecatu Village, Uluwatu. Gloves and bags will be provided. 

Tourism Officer based at Dreamland Beach, Wayan Mantra, told reporters, “The trash floating there is trash sent from the sea. The condition of the Loloan estuary, which is covered with sand, means that the rubbish is trapped.”

There is a 200m stretch of the estuary from the river mouth towards the inland that will be cleaned up. 

He added, “The plan is that a team from Sungai Watch will go down on 22nd March 2024 to clean it…Tourists have no problem with this consignment of rubbish. What they complain about is usually when rubbish is scattered on the coast.”