Melasti Ceremony & Trash on the Beach

[swisshawaiian]

I live in Pererenan, which is a small village near Echo Beach just west of Canggu. Every Melasti ceremony, there are thousands of Hindus coming from various villages to gather at Pererenan Beach for the Melasti ceremonies. I go for walks on this beach regularly. I can't say that the beach is normally particularly clean, but it's not all that bad. There are a few plastic bags, plastic cups and candy wrappers, cigarette boxes sparsely scattered along the beach. However the day after the Melatsti ceremonies, the beach was completely covered with plastic cups (you know those small plastic cups that you drink from with a straw), cigartte butts and candy wrappers. It looked awful, like a bomb went off in a garbage collectors plant. There's a small river that flows into the ocean and it too was covered with mainly plastic. It was a sad sight. Someone on the beach told me that the village organises a big cleanup the morning after Melasti, but when I returned around sunset, nothing was done. A few days later, the river was still full of plastic and lots of garbage must have been washed out to the open ocean.

Melasti is supposed to be a Purification ceremony. It's beautiful to watch and I love Bali and its culture and respect the Balinese Hindu traditions. It's one of the reasons why I live in Bali. I never get upset when I'm stuck in traffic because of a ceremony, I love the Hindu culture too much for that. However, I don't understand why the Balinese don't care more about mother nature in their own village/community.

Last week I had a friend visiting from Jogja. She has never been to Kuta Beach, so I took her there (I hardly ever go there myself). We walked from Tuban all the way to Oberoi. The beach was littered with trash. I saw tourist couples walking hand in hand along the beach trying not to step onto trash... Unbelieveable! Why isn't the Balinese government/Tourism Authority doing anything about it. It wouldn't cost all that much, considering all the millions of dollars in toursim tax flowing in, to hire a couple of hundred unemployed locals to do daily cleanups of the beaches. It would make a big difference. The Balinese Tourism Authority apparently isn't aware that the "competition" isn't sleeping (ie Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and now even Cambodia). Word of mouth is very powerful. What do you think those couples walking on the littered Kuta beach are going to tell their friends when their back home? :roll:

I know this subject has come up many times before, but I just think it's too important not to mention it again once in a while. I can't get myself to throw even the smallest candy wrapper onto the ground. Why? Because it was taught in my country at school and at home. It's normal. You don't litter, it's a bad thing to do. The sadest thing I saw during the Melasti ceremony is a father with three kids, two sons and a daugther. They were all drinking water and the kids were eating some sort of snack. I saw the dad thowing the plastic cup onto the beach right in front of the kids, then the kids later on threw the candy wrappers on the ground as well. Of course, if Daddy litters the beach, then it's okay to do that... :(

My question is just why, after so many years of talking about this subject, and some yayasans going to hundreds of village schools around Bali to educate the kids about the importance of taking care of the environment, isn't the message getting through? It sure is frustrating but I don't give up hope and do my part (I recyle, use biodegradable soaps, detergents and shampoo, use my mountain bike on short distance trips and try to educate the locals AND EXPATS what they can do to take care of the environment.)

[Bert Vierstra]

Its Sad.

If the Balinese (or some of them) would care to do something about it, they can.

I don't watch Bali TV that often, but an ad campaign may work...

[swisshawaiian]

Good idea Bert. I wonder who owns Bali TV. Has anyone ever seen environment-oriented ad campaigns on TV in Bali?

[Bert Vierstra]

http://www.balitv.tv/

I can't recall seeing anything right now, but I know it is an issue, although not such a big one...

( btw you can see indo tv online here: http://www.tritv.net/ (sometimes) )

[macupblue]

Her in germany is one telecast it is called the face of asia.they show also the ugly beach like garbag can in Bali. i never seen somthing like that.

[Sergio]

Yes, it really is very sad. I never could understand it either.

Bert's idea is a good one for sure! I would also like to know what they are (or are not) teaching about the environment in school? Maybe an anti littering law were if convicted one must do X amount of hours in community cleanup.

[macupblue]

Here in Germany we had same problem be4. Each event was the same chaos plasticbottles and tins everywhere. But now you have to pay 25 cent deposit for each bottle. some dont care about, but kids and poor peopel look about the bottles and get the 25 cent back when they deliver back to the shop. i am sure you will not find 1 bottle on the beach with these system in bali .

[tintin]

Some people do pick up plastics in Bali for redemption in appropriate centers. My old Balinese friend (actually, he is from Badui origin, and maybe this is why?), Silvio, started such a drive in Ubub, back in the late 1980s, with limited success, but later on, it seemed to have picked-up. It is a fact that one sees many less "Aqua" and other large empties in the sawa and along the roads and paths, but there is a long way to go.

[FreoGirl]

I believe the problem goes back to rubbish disposal in general - I've seen over and over rubbish thrown on the ground in the kampung, which later gets swept up with a stick broom and burnt. Adults and children thrown food scraps, plastics, etc etc on the ground at home, so they also do it in public. The problem is in public places who is going to sweep it up?

Education at school only goes so far if the mind set within the home is that rubbish goes on the ground.

Long before the Bali bombings it was a concern of mine that Bali would start losing tourists because of the pollution problems and how dirty the tourist areas were becoming. I think that it certainly is a factor in the lower numbers seen today.

I also despair at the amount of rubbish that is thrown into the sea around Bali - to be washed up again on some shore, or to kill the seagrass on the seabed. It's that "out of sight out of mind" mentality - but the sea can only hide so much and then it reaches saturation point. One of the outcomes is fish stocks decrease (which we are seeing all over Indonesia).

The root of the problem also comes back to offering an alternative to the ground for the rubbish. If rubbish bins are provided, then a rubbish collection service also needs to be provided. AND rubbish collected then needs to be disposed of in an appropriate way.

It all costs money. In Europe and western countries it comes from our taxes and local government council rates. Where does it come from in Bali? It can't just come from the big hotels because the issue is across the island, not just in tourist areas.

It will take a mind shift of both the Balinese people and the government to deal with the problem.

I've talked about Bali in this post - but this is an issue everywhere in Indoensia, not just Bali. I guess I tend to find it more surprising in Bali given the affinity with the land that the Balinese people have.

[manc in oz]

The last time I was in Bali I went for a walk on the beach between Legian and Seminyak. Apart from all the usual rubbish on the beach, there was an oil slick. I went back a few days later and it was still there. I find it amazing that travel agents still advertise Bali as having great beaches. I know you can find some decent beaches if you go of the beaten track but in the main tourist area of Kuta Legian Seminyak etc, they are pretty poor.

Living in Australia we are spoilt with great beaches and take them for granted. I've lost count of the amount of friends I have reccommended Bali to for a holiday, only for them to come back and tell me how bad the beach was.