Bali’s Biggest Beach Clean-up

Sunday, 19th of February, in the spirit of Valentine’s day and Hari Peduli Sampah (our National Waste Day), 1000s of individuals from children to politicians, locals and expats, came together to show their love for Bali by cleaning up the coast line and participating in Bali’s biggest beach clean-up.
The One Island One Voice campaign launched 2 years ago by members of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, to highlight shops and warungs that were plastic bag free. The Campaign has now grown into a collective movement of like-minded organisations and activists, standing and acting for a more sustainable Bali.
The 21 organisers* of the event, joined together under One Island One Voice and announced their mission to plan an island wide beach clean-up, only 6 weeks prior to the event. What started with 20 locations, nearly tripled in size by the 19th of February and included clean-ups in Nusa Penida, Lembongan, the Gili islands and even inland village clean-ups around Bali.
In Amed, alone, 3000 people came out to support the cause and more than 20 different clean-ups were organised across the east coast bays.
With the help of volunteer coordinators in each location, valuable data was collected through surveys. It is estimated that 12,000 people attended the clean-ups and collected 40+ tons of trash, across 55 locations, in just this 1-day.
Thanks to ecoBali Recycling, DKP (local pick-up service), ROLE Foundation, Merah Putih Hijau initiative, and other small scale recycling centres, all trash was collected from sites and recycled as much as possible.
The support for this event, at all levels, was far reaching. Just days before the clean-up, musicians from all over Indonesia spontaneously came together to record the song, ‘Satu Pulau, Satu Suara’, in promotion of the clean-ups and in dedication to the movement of cleaning up Bali.
Given the large number of people who mobilised on this day, shows that people are ready for a change. Clean-ups are great to raise awareness, BUT they are not the solution. This is just the beginning.
All people of Bali are ready to see legal policies and regulations implemented to finally provide proper waste management facilities and to stop the littering of Bali’s streets, rivers, beaches, and oceans.
*Thanks to all organisers: Bye Bye Plastic Bags, ecoBali Recycling, Bali Fokus, Avani, Trash Hero, Plataran Resorts, Aqua, Re>Pal, Green School, BaliOn Villa Rentals, Lembongan Surf Team, Coca-Cola, OK Divers, Bali Buda, ROLE Foundation, Bali Asli, Four Seasons Resorts, Making Oceans Plastic Free, Diving Candidasa, Zen Dive Resorts, and Nazava water filters