Imagine being in Bali right now. Beautiful beaches, perfect swells and amazing landscapes, this is unfortunately not entirely true anymore. If you have been to Bali recently, you would have seen trash. A lot of trash. Mostly single-use plastics just discarded right after use.
Bali’s famous beaches are being trashed. It is only getting worse and worse. Due to changes in tides and wind direction, there is a period where the amount of trash on Bali’s shores is the worst. This period from December to March is often referred to as “garbage season” ABC News reports.
There are a lot of locals including hotel workers, volunteers and NGO’s trying to clean up the beaches, however, it is not making any lasting impact. The real problem lies in the source of plastic pollution. Have a look here for this couple's view on single-use plastics.
An initial article written by the Wall Street Journal quoted data from research led by a group of environmental researchers that came to a conclusion that Indonesia ranks number 2 for the largest contributor of plastic waste that is being mismanaged and plastic waste that ends up in our oceans. The data can be found here.
Recently, governor of Bali, Wayan Koster has committed himself and the island to work towards being completely single-use plastics free. This June all single-use plastics will be banned from Bali.
It is difficult to exactly know the source of the problem and therefore it is difficult to find out where all the plastics come from, as a lot of it is already floating in the ocean and gets washed up on shore. However, experts believe that nearly 80% comes from the island itself.
Some consider the moves from Bali’s governor a bit too aggressive, where others say that other leaders should follow suit. What do you think?
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