Bali's Doomed Love Affair With Plastic.

Bali is beginning to choke on it’s own success, literally. 

Nehru once said of Bali, " It is the morning of the world," and one has to agree with that statement as the island was once paradise personified, although in the last decade or so, the influx of tourism has perhaps quadrupled, laying siege to what is really a very fragile environment.

When I set off to research this commissioned piece I began to see the immense issue that waste has become, only to discover that the issue is being swept under the carpet or into the illegal waste dumps that now proliferate across the island.

Each and every one of us produces our fair share of garbage and yet the collective thinking here is that it’s someone else’s problem when essentially we, tourists and 'foreign residents alike are perhaps the root cause of the problem.

Waste, and indeed waste management is a thorny issue that no one really wants to talk about. Some of the largest producers of waste in Bali are the large hotels and restaurants and who literally closed ranks when I tried to talk to them, about how they manage and dispose of their waste.

It’s a taboo topic and I was shown the door in most instances after being granted an appointment when they thought I was going to write a pleasant travel piece about their resort or restaurant. It doesn’t take much to notice that ignoring the problem doesn’t mean it disappears. Take a walk along some of Bali’s magnificent beaches or stroll through a village to see that it won’t take long before the problem reaches epidemic proportions.

Green and household waste isn’t really waste at all as in most cases it is bio- degradable and much of household (kitchen) waste in the villages does actually end up being reused for compost or pig fodder.

It’s Plastic that is the arch- enemy. Seems we can’t get enough of it and yet really do we need it?

This wonder compound has actually been around since the Middle Ages when early alchemists treated horns of cattle to make glass for lantern windows. In the early 20th century after Charles Goodyear discovered vulcanization to make tires, the era of plastic production gathered a gigantic head of steam.

By the 1940’s and 50’s plastic products had become the part of everyday life and we all developed a passionate love affair with polystyrene.

And then, that most useful of items came along ….the plastic bag!!

The world now uses over one million plastic bags each and every minute of every day and the industry that manufactures them is fighting hard to keep it that way. The humble plastic bag is now as the most ubiquitous consumer item on the planet as the leading source of pollution both on land and in the oceans.

On the beaches and in the hinterland of Bali, plastic bags clog sewers, streams and rivers and are a major contributor to flooding during the rainy season. Turtles off the coast are often found dead, wrapped in bags and fish are literally poisoned as they nibble away at what they might think to be a floating tasty treat.

There is absolutely no justification for the manufacture of plastic bags in Bali as most villagers prefer the use of baskets or palm leaves to carry and store their produce. It is the visitors who demand the bags in which to transport their trinkets and souvenirs. When discarded these handy bags make their way to languish at the bottom of the oceans and some even find their way to the top of the sacred Mt Agung. So what is being done about it in Bali? Actually not very much!

There are a few waste warriors who are making a concerted effort to stem the tide and make a difference. I spent an afternoon with Olivier Pouillon a feisty import from Washington DC who has been waging war on garbage on Bali since 1994. He has worked tirelessly over the years via his company Bali recycling (Peduli Bali) to divert the island’s trash from piling up and poisoning the environment.

His company provides a collection service, which includes material collection and hazardous waste removal. A by- product of much of the materials collected he “up cycles’ into attractive household items that would not look out of place in the most upmarket of home-ware stores. Olivier has fought hard to make his business successful against unimaginable odds given that there seems to be no corporate responsibility when it comes to the waste that the larger corporations produce.

Waste is a problem and as such doesn’t add to a company’s ‘yield’ or bottom line therefore it’s an item that never gets discussed at finance meetings. Apparently it’s a ‘marketing department’ issue. “ Tell the consumer we are an ‘eco friendly company and we are seriously committed to being “green “. As an ex - copywriter its the pure marketing hype that I used to bash out on a daily basis meaning that’s its pure crap...eco friendly indeed!!!

Contrary to popular belief, Pouillon tells me is that the majority of Bali recycling’s customers are Balinese households who each week diligently separate their waste and have it collected. So there is one myth that should be expelled when tourists claim that the Balinese simply don’t care about their environment.

The problem in essence is not education but rather implementation. There is no government waste management system in Bali or in most parts of Indonesia as a whole for that matter. Scavengers, who live next to landfill sites, extract only items that can be sold and are in effect adding to and not solving the problem.

It would be nice to see a magic authorities wand waved as it has been done in other parts of the world where the problem is recognized and a solution implemented before it became too late. In China in 2008 the manufacture and distribution of plastic bags was made illegal resulting a reduction of over 80% of bags in the first two years of implementation.

Ditto 3rd world countries such as Bangladesh have implemented the same decree. European countries are finally catching on with Italy, Denmark and others following China’s lead. In South Africa a levy was placed on every plastic bag where, if the consumer wanted a bag they had to pay for it. The result? Within two years plastic bag consumption declined by a whopping 85%

A simple decree such as this on Bali could, and will generate the same reduction…guaranteed. Corporate or government responsibility? Lets not wait for that.

Perhaps it should be individual responsibility that leads the cause where we simply say no to a plastic bag, or refill that plastic water bottle (of which 3 million are sold every day on Bali.)

I have to say that since this article was first published there have been some encouraging signs and for this we have to thank two young school girls Melati & Isabel Wijsen whose, “Bye Bye Plastic bags has gathered via ted X gathered a lot of traction, so much so that now stores charge for plastic bags and the governor has promised to eliminate them by 2017.

For the three and a half million international tourists who visit this fragile place every year, if each and every one of them practiced a little restraint in their plastic usage the problem might, just might be on the way to being eliminated

There is only one Bali, so lets all try to preserve it!

First published in various magazines in 2013

Paul v Walters is the author of five novels and when not cocooned in sloth and procrastination he scribbles for various journals around the world.