Sustainability and Plastic in Bali

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Bali's environmental problems are visible in a way that few destinations' are. Six million visitors a year on an island of four and a half million people, with waste infrastructure built for neither, produce roughly a million tonnes of rubbish annually, a substantial share of it plastic and a substantial share of that unmanaged. Every wet season, the rivers wash it onto the west-coast beaches. There has been real progress — the 2019 ban on single-use bags, straws and polystyrene was among the first in Indonesia — and there is a long way to go.

The waste problem

Bali generates well over a million tonnes of waste a year and only a fraction is formally collected and processed; the Suwung landfill near Denpasar has been at or beyond capacity for years. Much of the rest is burned, buried or ends up in rivers. During the wet season, from roughly December to February, monsoon currents and river runoff deposit large quantities of debris on the beaches from Kuta to Canggu — much of it Bali's own, some of it from elsewhere in the region — and daily clean-ups are a permanent feature of the west coast.

What has been done

The 2019 provincial regulation banning single-use plastic bags, straws and polystyrene was driven substantially by a youth campaign started by two Balinese schoolgirls, and it has visibly changed retail behaviour. Refill stations for drinking water are now widespread, several villages run their own waste-banks that pay for sorted recyclables, and NGOs operate river-interception barriers that catch debris before it reaches the sea. The reef restoration project at Pemuteran, running since 2000, is the longest-established marine recovery effort in the country.

Water, the less visible problem

Bali's freshwater is under more pressure than its waste system. Tourism consumes a large share of the island's water, groundwater extraction for hotels and villas has caused saltwater intrusion in the south, and the subak irrigation system that feeds the rice terraces has lost water to development in several catchments. A single villa pool and garden uses a great deal of water in a place where villages ration. Choosing accommodation that harvests rainwater or recycles greywater is a more consequential decision than refusing a straw.

What actually helps

Carry a refillable bottle and use refill stations, which are everywhere and cost almost nothing. Refuse single-use plastic actively rather than passively. Use reef-safe sunscreen or a rash vest, particularly on the shallow snorkel sites. Choose accommodation and operators that publish what they do about water and waste, and ask if they do not. Eat at warungs, which generate far less packaging than delivery. Join a beach clean-up — several run weekly in Canggu and Sanur. And spend money outside the southern strip, which spreads the economic benefit and the pressure.

Sustainability and Plastic at a glance

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