The beaches in rainy season

JackStraw

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Mar 14, 2017
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My FB contribution to the theme of "Beach Rubbish". View attachment 3555


In general, the whole east coast of Bali is much cleaner than the west. Even in Nusa Dua or Sanur you don't get much like you do in Kuta or something. For those that follow the Sungai Watch team, they do waste audits of everything they pick up on the beach.

You won't believe some of the stuff they find. The large majority of it comes from Java. They found school uniforms from Banyuwani, hats from Surabaya and a whole bunch of other shit basically pin pointing all the trash coming from Javanese rivers.

Now, I'm sure Balinese are also guily of chucking some plastic cups in the river from time to time but the issue seems far more prevalent in Java than Bali.
 
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Markit

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In general, the whole east coast of Bali is much cleaner than the west. Even in Nusa Dua or Sanur you don't get much like you do in Kuta or something. For those that follow the Sungai Watch team, they do waste audits of everything they pick up on the beach.

You won't believe some of the stuff they find. The large majority of it comes from Java. They found school uniforms from Banyuwani, hats from Surabaya and a whole bunch of other shit basically pin pointing all the trash coming from Javanese rivers.

Now, I'm sure Balinese are also guily of chucking some plastic cups in the river from time to time but the issue seems far more prevalent in Java than Bali.
Hold onto your hat here's some pix of all the stuff the Javanese brought over on their hols in Bali!
 

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Foamcrest

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Markit I think one of the cleverest things you have said ( oh God stand by! ) is that you would give the police the authority to fine people you litter or dump rubbish Rp100,000 and that they could keep the 100k. I realise that this authority could/would be open to abuse but I can guarantee that the littering, real or imagined would , be drastically reduced and that there would be some very wealthy policemen.
Before angry keyboard warriors fire up its meant as an insane (Markit) joke but has a an element of brilliance (Markit).
 

JackStraw

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Hold onto your hat here's some pix of all the stuff the Javanese brought over on their hols in Bali!

Yeah if you bothered to read my fucking post you'll see I said the Balinese are no saints either when it comes to trash disposal but looking at it from an analytical perspective, the vast majority of trash washing up on the western shores comes from Java.
 

Markit

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Yeah if you bothered to read my fucking post you'll see I said the Balinese are no saints either when it comes to trash disposal but looking at it from an analytical perspective, the vast majority of trash washing up on the western shores comes from Java.

And I quote: "chucking some plastic cups in the river from time to time ".

If my pictures in any way reflect what you said then I'll eat your plastic cups. The old trope about "coming from Java" is frankly rubbish too. If you think the supply chains here in Indonesia are in any way transparent enough to following consumer products from supply to point of use I also have a bridge in San Fransisco for sale.
 

John M

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And I quote: "chucking some plastic cups in the river from time to time ".

If my pictures in any way reflect what you said then I'll eat your plastic cups. The old trope about "coming from Java" is frankly rubbish too. If you think the supply chains here in Indonesia are in any way transparent enough to following consumer products from supply to point of use I also have a bridge in San Fransisco for sale.
I agree that the old “most of the rubbish on Bali’s beaches comes from Java” claim is indeed a much used trope that can’t be supported simply by reading the labels on some of the items of rubbish.

I pay for a weekly recycling service from ecoBali Recycling so I did a quick citizen-science survey of all the plastic in this week’s bin and found that if I had dumped it on a beach then the packages would say that they came from - in no particular order - Macassar, Tangerang, Bekasi, Iowa (USA), Sidoarjo, Selangor (Malaysia), Bikaner (India), Singapore, Jakarta, Klaten, Thailand, Richmond (Canada) and Karawang with a single Bali manufactured product labelled as ‘Product of East Bali’.

There’s no doubt that some of the rubbish on Bali’s beaches does come from Java, and from much further afield as well, but the pictures on Sungai Watch’s website showing the thousands of tonnes of rubbish captured by their booms on Bali rivers speak for themselves as to where the majority comes from (see attached picture of what they say is a single day’s capture on a Bali river).
 

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Markit

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I agree that the old “most of the rubbish on Bali’s beaches comes from Java” claim is indeed a much used trope that can’t be supported simply by reading the labels on some of the items of rubbish.

I pay for a weekly recycling service from ecoBali Recycling so I did a quick citizen-science survey of all the plastic in this week’s bin and found that if I had dumped it on a beach then the packages would say that they came from - in no particular order - Macassar, Tangerang, Bekasi, Iowa (USA), Sidoarjo, Selangor (Malaysia), Bikaner (India), Singapore, Jakarta, Klaten, Thailand, Richmond (Canada) and Karawang with a single Bali manufactured product labelled as ‘Product of East Bali’.

There’s no doubt that some of the rubbish on Bali’s beaches does come from Java, and from much further afield as well, but the pictures on Sungai Watch’s website showing the thousands of tonnes of rubbish captured by their booms on Bali rivers speak for themselves as to where the majority comes from (see attached picture of what they say is a single day’s capture on a Bali river).
Horrendous picture!

I just don't understand these people even after living here for 13 years. They will spend hours broiling in the noonday sun to pray for inner cleanliness and leave a ton of plastic rubbish behind when they are finished or they will make a bow around garbage on the ground to sweep up all the leaves they can see. Go figure!
 

JackStraw

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And I quote: "chucking some plastic cups in the river from time to time ".

If my pictures in any way reflect what you said then I'll eat your plastic cups. The old trope about "coming from Java" is frankly rubbish too. If you think the supply chains here in Indonesia are in any way transparent enough to following consumer products from supply to point of use I also have a bridge in San Fransisco for sale.

don't shoot the messenger. If you got a problem with what I said then dial up Sungai Watch and tell them their daily trash audits they spend countless hours laboring over are incorrect.

Surely the people breaking their backs actually picking up trash on the beach and analyzing it are wrong compared to the bule who hides in his villa up in the hills
 

Markit

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don't shoot the messenger. If you got a problem with what I said then dial up Sungai Watch and tell them their daily trash audits they spend countless hours laboring over are incorrect.

Surely the people breaking their backs actually picking up trash on the beach and analyzing it are wrong compared to the bule who hides in his villa up in the hills
TrashHero.jpg

Me hiding in my villa. Did this for 5 years prior to Covid19.
 

Foamcrest

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Peduli Alam is a French organisation that has a policy of turning the beach litter into employment, gifts and then selling them, there is a shop in Lipah which we buy from every year.
People are paid to collect the plastic from the beach, others are paid to transport it and yet still more people are paid to create bags and other items. We buy quite a few of the bags as they are very attractive, very useful and reasonably priced and make great gifts for our friends.
Its not the answer to a massive problem but I suppose every little bit helps.
 

Markit

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Sep 3, 2007
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Karangasem, Bali
Peduli Alam is a French organisation that has a policy of turning the beach litter into employment, gifts and then selling them, there is a shop in Lipah which we buy from every year.
People are paid to collect the plastic from the beach, others are paid to transport it and yet still more people are paid to create bags and other items. We buy quite a few of the bags as they are very attractive, very useful and reasonably priced and make great gifts for our friends.
Its not the answer to a massive problem but I suppose every little bit helps.
I know them well. We try and stop in when we go snorkeling up that way (Cafe Vienna - great reefs and fish). It's been a while due to the pandemic but well worth a visit!
 

Juggler

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I saw a sign on insta that explain to the people about the cause of the rubbish and the "Natural Phonomena" that happens this time of year...if thats natural well all buggered
 
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hadodi

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Nov 8, 2013
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Factum is,,that Bali has a judge problem with rubbish. You can 100times clean your beach, but where does the rubbish go? Somewhere in land and there it will rot and destroy silently the nature.
 
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JackStraw

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Factum is,,that Bali has a judge problem with rubbish. You can 100times clean your beach, but where does the rubbish go? Somewhere in land and there it will rot and destroy silently the nature.

Depend on who's picking it up. If it's Badung regency doing it, then yeah I'm sure it just goes right to the dump. But they have some private organizations that sort and recycle as much as possible.
 

John M

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Sep 29, 2020
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Sanur, Bali
Depend on who's picking it up. If it's Badung regency doing it, then yeah I'm sure it just goes right to the dump. But they have some private organizations that sort and recycle as much as possible.
That's true. I use eco-Bali ( https://eco-bali.com ) and pay IDR 759,000 for six months of collecting two small bags once per week but other sizes and frequencies are available.
Unlike some countries that almost require recyclable waste to be gift wrapped they take all sorts of unusual things such supermarket check out dockets, electrical cables, shoes and clothes plus 'untouchables' such as used face masks, cigarette butts and nappies etc. which just have to be in a ziplock bag.
It's a small price to pay for playing my part and it might just help me to buy my way into heaven :)
 

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JackStraw

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That's true. I use eco-Bali ( https://eco-bali.com ) and pay IDR 759,000 for six months of collecting two small bags once per week but other sizes and frequencies are available.
Unlike some countries that almost require recyclable waste to be gift wrapped they take all sorts of unusual things such supermarket check out dockets, electrical cables, shoes and clothes plus 'untouchables' such as used face masks, cigarette butts and nappies etc. which just have to be in a ziplock bag.
It's a small price to pay for playing my part and it might just help me to buy my way into heaven :)

Eco Bali is fantastic. I use them as well and I highly recommend everyone on this site to do the same. Nothing pisses me off more than a bule complaining about the trash problem in Bali but refusing to take an active part in fixing it.

I also urge you all to donate to Sungai Watch if you can. A little goes a long way:

 
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