How tourists and plastic transformed Bali into an 'Island of Trash'

Bali's beauty sinks beneath an 'Island of Trash' as waste issues increaseBy Indonesia correspondent Tim Swanston and Ari Wu in BaliTopic:Environmental Impacts Link copiedShareShare articleBuduk is a picturesque, typical Bali village filled with homes, a traditional temple, a row of tourist villas and fields of rice paddies. Located just north of Canggu, it has become increasingly popular with visitors looking to avoid the island's crowded hotspots. But rising from the middle of the village is a massive mound of rubbish. The mound of rubbish suddenly appeared a few months ago. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) The abundance of waste snakes back tens of metres and features torn garbage bags, a mess of food scraps, plastic bottles and dumped household items. And underneath the pile is even more waste that has been covered by dirt and soil. The pile of rubbish snakes back tens of metres in Buduk. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) Locals told the ABC they had been dumping trash at the site for months, despite it not being designated an official, permanent landfill area. They said they had paid a small monthly fee to the village to do so. But when the ABC sent the local regency questions about the dumping site last week, officials quickly directed the area to be cleared of rubbish. The waste was set to be taken to the island's main landfill, Suwung. The Buduk saga is a symptom of what many describe as an unfolding waste crisis on the Island of the Gods. Bali wants to handle its waste more sustainably, but right now it is caught in a period of upheaval and transition. In Bali's south-east lies the sprawling Suwung landfill, a monument to consumption on the tourist haven. Bali's Suwung landfill is massive. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) Suwung is up to 10 storeys high, taking in trash from Bali's two largest regencies: the tourist heavy Badung, which includes Kuta and Canggu, and the city of Denpasar. Officials have wanted to shut Suwung for years, in keeping with a push by Indonesia's central government to end open-air dumping, but they repeatedly pushed back the deadline for its closure. The site is an environmental headache, producing large amounts of methane and leaching contaminated liquid into nearby waterways. It also once caught fire for more than 20 days, sending large plumes of smoke into the air. In April, the news came that Bali's provincial government would finally close it to organic waste. Residents and regencies were encouraged to manage waste themselves. The Suwung landfill produces large amounts of methane. (ABC News: Ari Wu) Organic waste has largely been barred from Suwung. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) Bali's landfill restrictions are causing rubbish to pile up on the island. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) Urban biologist Buya Azmedia Istiqlal said what followed was chaos. "The current condition is a crisis," he told the ABC. "People are burning trash, waste is left on the side of the road, waste is thrown into rivers, behind ravines. "All kinds of things, and that is certainly not good for the environment in Bali." In June, Bali's provincial government partially backflipped on the closure, re-opening Suwung to organic waste for two days of the week. But that has done little to stop the chaos. Gary Bencheghib, co-founder of environmental NGO Sungai Watch, said his teams had found more rubbish around the island as a result of the confusion created by the landfill's closure. Gary Bencheghib is one of the co-founders of Sungai Watch, a prominent environmental organisation and non-profit in Bali. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) "Bali is going through an unprecedented time," he said. "There's a lot of questions as to where residents can dump their waste. A lot of people really don't know what to do." Anecdotally, Mr Bencheghib and Buya Azmedia Istiqlal said they had noticed more people also burning their waste. Residents have reported smelling "unpleasant fumes" as a result of rubbish being set on fire on the island. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) "So many residents around the island have been sending us messages for help, saying 'I want you to come and clean up these dumps,'" Mr Bencheghib said. "But people have been burning nonstop … people have been complaining about the smells. "When you're driving around on your motorbike, you're experiencing really unpleasant fumes." The trash mound in Buduk village was not the only massive pile of rubbish the ABC found while in Bali. In the south of Denpasar, Bali's main city, a massive pile of rubbish sat near the city's reservoir, having been dredged out of the river. Bali faces environmental challenges linked to growing tourism and a rising population. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) Denpasar is just one area in Bali experiencing issues with waste. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) Bali needs to reduce the amount of rubbish it creates. (ABC News: Tim Swanston) A local council worker told the ABC that it was a week's worth of rubbish, about to be moved to the nearby landfill.

How tourists and plastic transformed Bali into an 'Island of Trash'

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