Balis fight against plastic waste
When thinking of Bali, picture-perfect visions of rice fields, waterfalls and white sand beaches often spring to mind, and rightly so. But for decades now, Bali has been fighting an ever-growing environmental crisis that’s littering the paradise island: plastic. To curb the dire consequences of pollution, Bali Governor Wayan Koster announced a ban on single-use plastics on December 24th, 2018. The goal that he expressed is to reduce plastic waste by 70% within 2020.
"This policy is aimed at producers, distributors, suppliers and business actors, including individuals, to suppress the use of single-use plastics. They must substitute plastics with other materials" Mr Koster said, as quoted by tribunnews news site. Koster added that a 6 months leniency period will be granted until administrative sanctions will start to apply. If not compliant, plastic users will not see their business permits extended.
Tracing the origin of plastic waste turns out to be very difficult, but experts in the matter estimated that 80% of plastic waste that ground on the island’s beaches comes from Bali itself.
Jakarta government is said to follow along and place a ban on plastic too.