What’s the first thing about Bali that comes to mind? Likely its beautiful, pristine beaches. But beaches on the paradisiacal island in the Indonesian archipelago increasingly feature not shells, but rather, plastic trash.
Plastic waste has been piling up on Bali, fueled by a lack of infrastructure—or an official plan—to deal with it. Also contributing to bottle- and bag-strewn beaches are growing tourism, ingrained cultural practices, and a lack of awareness about the lifecycle of plastic from disposal, to sea, to washing up on beaches as trash.
In a 2015 study in
Science of the top 20 countries that poorly managed plastic waste, Indonesia was listed second. The nation generated 3.2 million tonnes of plastic in 2010, and nearly half of it ended up in the sea. China was first, the United States twentieth. The Indonesian government issued numbers to National Geographic that were quite a bit lower than those in the study, but the bottom line is the same: Most plastic trash isn't managed well in Indonesia.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/bali-fights-for-its-beautiful-beaches-by-rethinking-waste-plastic-trash/
