Plastic tidal wave hits Bali beaches

INDONESIA: For decades the Indonesian island of Bali has been a byword for tropical paradise, with tourists flocking from across the world to its perfect beaches.

But now the island has declared a ‘‘garbage emergency’’ after its most popular tourist beaches were inundated with a rising tide of plastic waste.

A five-kilometre stretch of beach on the island’s western coast was declared an emergency zone last month after authorities realised the volume of plastic being washed up was endangering the tourist trade.

Workers sent to Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak beaches, among the island’s busiest, were reportedly carting off up to 100 tonnes of rubbish each day at the peak of the clean-up.

Plastic pollution on Bali has soared in recent years.

‘‘It is awful. People just don’t care, it’s everywhere, it’s every- where,’’ said Gulang, a hotel worker. ‘‘ The government does something but it is really just a token thing.’’

He said much of the pollution on Bali is down to habitual flytipping that sees rubbish carried out to sea during the rainy season and blamed much of the problem on the indifference of many islanders to the issue. But he added that municipal refuse management is inadequate.

In March this year the Indonesian government pledged to spend up to $1 billion a year to clean up its seas. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the co-ordinating minister for maritime affairs in Indonesia, said the country would seek to reduce plastic pollution by 75 per cent by 2025.

The Bali cleanup comes after TV documentary caused a debate in Britain on the damage done to the environment by plastic. – Telegraph Group