Volunteers clean up Bali’s beach from ‘worst’ monsoon-driven trash

Volunteers clean up Bali’s beach from “the worst” monsoon-driven trash. Photo / AFP

Hundreds of volunteers joined a clean-up in Bali, Indonesia, last Saturday as monsoon rains brought what an activist described as “the worst” waves of plastic waste to hit its tourist-favoured beaches.

The Southeast Asian nation is one of the world’s biggest contributors of plastic pollution and marine debris, with annual monsoon rains and winds sweeping mountains of plastic waste from its cities and rivers into the ocean.

Hundreds of volunteers joined a clean-up in Bali, Indonesia, on Saturday. Photo / AFP

Some of it drifts hundreds of kilometres before washing up on the beaches on the holiday island, especially between November and March.

Across Kedonganan beach in the south of the island, plastic cups, straws, cutlery and empty cofee sachets were scattered across the sand, mixed with plant and wood debris.

Tons of garbage

About 600 volunteers, including residents, hospitality workers and tourists, braved a rainy morning to pick up the waste by hand before filling hundreds of large sacks.

The environmental NGO Sungai Watch called it “the worst” plastic waste pollution to wash ashore in Bali.

“We have never seen plastics a metre thick in the sand. In just six days of clean-up, we collected 25 tons, which is a record for us,” Sungai Watch founder Gary Bencheghib said.

Bencheghib said an audit found most of the plastic waste came from cities in neighbouring Java, Indonesia’s most populated island.

Tatiana Komelova, a Russian tourist volunteer, said the sight of the pollution shocked her and motivated her to reduce the use of plastic in her daily life.

“I knew the problem existed, but I didn’t know it was this bad,” she said.

“I use plastic products a lot in my life and now I try to reduce it as much as possible.”

According to the Bali Sun, the country is experiencing one of the worst monsoon seasons in recent history. Storms and heavy rain have caused increased plastic and beach debris deposited on to the sand, although the turbulent weather has calmed in the past week.

– AFP with NZME