Bali - a Paradise or not?

Many people think Bali is a paradise on earth. Of course, I thought the same and it is a paradise, no question. However, if you take a closer look, you will notice a very special disturbing factor: garbage/plastic.

A shocking event for me was at the university where I did my semester abroad. There were rubbish bins everywhere, where the students also threw their rubbish in, but when the bin was full, it was simply dumped in the neighbouring forest and put back again. Sometimes I even saw that the piles of rubbish in the forest were set on fire.

Unfortunately, the rubbish problem is not only at the university but everywhere on the island and especially in places where there is a lot of tourism. Rubbish just lies by the roadside, in fields, in the jungle, quite simply almost everywhere.

In the rainy season, a lot of rubbish and especially plastic washes up on the beaches of Bali. Even rubbish that has been in the ocean for many years is found during beach clean-ups. Due to the currents and the salt water, many pieces have already been reduced to tiny pieces. Some are no bigger than a grain of sand. The so-called microplastics (pieces that are smaller than 5 mm) are the most dangerous.

I've added 4ocean's Instagram page here. If you're interested in this topic, take a look at 4ocean's photos. Some of the pictures are really shocking and this one is from the popular Kuta Beach in Bali. When I was there, I also saw some rubbish, but fortunately it wasn't as bad as in these pictures.

I talked to a Balinese woman who said that everything used to be wrapped in banana leaves or other organic things. It was only with the advent of tourism that plastic became the norm everywhere. Paradoxically when I picked up a Nasi Goreng from the street market that was already wrapped in a banana leaf, it was wrapped again in a plastic bag. Even when I told the woman that I didn't need a bag because it was already very well wrapped, she gave me a plastic bag. I think it's already so ingrained in people's minds that we can't do anything completely without plastic.

Much of the plastic comes from other countries. It is not all the fault of the Balinese and the tourism there. A lot of what is washed up was not properly disposed of in other countries, even on the other side of the world, and ended up in the sea. Ocean currents have then brought this waste into the Indian Ocean, where it washes up on the beach and is hopefully found during a Beach Clean-up.

It gets worse every year, which makes me personally very sad. In my opinion, this paradise is being destroyed piece by piece. This beautiful landscape must not be destroyed, it is so unique and many species are becoming extinct due to littering.

- Jackobina