Bali and the environment

Laying in bed last night, trying to figure out the answers to Bali’s problems, my mind went to the subject of garbage once again. Garbage, meaning man-made, non biodegradable stuff, spoils
the water for surfers, the roadside for tourists and creates a noxious stink around the island, when locals try to burn it in smoldering heaps.

So what to we do with all the garbage? Following the 3-step, Reduce, Re Use, Recycle, my thoughts were as follows:

1) Encourage the locals to stop spreading so much waste, by encouraging manufacturers to stop making it. This can be done by getting people to bring their own bag to the supermarket, instead of using 10 plastic bags. Manufacturers should encourage local
retailers to buy in bulk, for example shampoo and conditioner. All over Bali there products as well as coffee mix, are sold in strips of 1-serving sachets. These then end up being thrown in with
the est of the garbage into a stream, awaiting the next rain. If manufacturers seized on the opportunity to sell their stuff in 40 gallon or 20 gallon containers to the retailer, giving them
reduced prices, the retailer could reduce their prices. The government should start a program encouraging this and issue standardized containers. So if you are a Balinese local and you want 1 unit of shampoo, you take along you government measuring bottle and they fill it from the 40 gallon container, cheaper prices and no waste.

2) Start a supermarket bag buy back system. In my house we save and re-use plastic bags.
Recycling in Bali does occur even in busy Seminyak. A small truck that says ‘Desa Adat Seminyak’ comes round, guys sort through the garbage and take the recyclables. It would be so much easier for them to issue plastic recycle bins and ask us to separate it for them, but true to Balinese methodology, they prefer to do things it 10 steps rather than 3.

3) Build recycling centers. There is one right now in Gianyar called Gianyar Temesi Recycling Center. The island need a massive recycling center, or better still one in each district. Bali generates a lot of money each year for the Indonesian economy. It also generates a lot of plastic garbage, which hurts the tourist industry. Even in the US, not all the type of plastics are recycled. Over there you will see a triangle on the bottom of containers with a number from 1 to 10. Generally speaking the only ones they pay for are #1 (PETE) , but they’ll accept #2 (HDPE). The problem is there has to be a market for the recycled goods, so much of the other stuff can’t be handled economically.

4) Build a landfill on the Bukit. In western countries garbage that isn’t recycled ends up in a landfill. While this is not a long term solution to the Earth’s environmental problems, it is preferable to Bali’s solution, which is to spread the garbage all over the place (along the roads, in streams, river, lakes, the beach). At least with a landfill, you keep all the mess together and if a time come when we develop better processes, maybe it can be handled. I’d like to see a giant landfill on the Bukit peninsula, handling all the garbage for Nusa Dua, Sanur, Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu, Denpasar. Pick the cheapest land, away from the tourist sections and chuck the stuff in.

5) Investigate other means of disposing of bio-degradable waste, for example composing. Composting is something I’m interested in, as it is a free, natural way of dealing with some organic waste. Thinking how it might work in Bali I run into a roadblock. ‘Cold compositing’ like people do in their garden, takes a long time and takes up space. Balinese locals are pressed for space and will never lift a finger to help the environment, unless it directly benefits them. Easier to burn off the rice stalks / bush etc., than to take the time to compost it. Add to the fact that the island generates so much foliage. Just to deal it the stuff that comes out of my small garden I’d need a constant compost pile, that would be ever growing.

Maybe I’ll start one today and see what success I have. First thing is to purchase a fork and some clippers from ACE Hardware. Great things often start with 1 person!

Speaking of the environment, the Canggu Club is screening Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, Saturday, April 28th, 2007, from 6pm – 8pm.