Bali: 75 percent of trash left uncollected
Posted by admin on May 27th, 2011A senior ranking administration official conceded Saturday that a large majority of trash on the resort island was left uncollected.
The island generates up to 20,000 cubic meters of trash daily and 75 percent is left uncollected on the roadside and at illegal dumps, posing a mounting problem and health hazard to the surrounding
community.
“On a daily basis around 15,000 cubic meters of trash does not end up in the official government-owned final garbage dump facility. Instead, trash is strewn along the roadsides, alleys and at illegal waste disposal sites,” provincial environmental agency head Alit Sastrawan said.
The garbage agency’s lack of sufficient human resources and equipment was one reason behind this chronic trash problem. Yet, Sastrawan also blamed the public’s low awareness on good trash management as an aggravating factor.
“A large number of people still think they can dump their trash anywhere,” he said.
He added that trash had become one of the most crucial problems in Bali.
“Trash has disturbed our social and spiritual life, and it has also impacted on our economic sources, the tourism industry in particular,” Sastrawan said.
He cited Andrew Marshall’s story “Holiday in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes”, published in Time magazine in early April, as an example of the negative effects poor trash management inflicts on Bali.
The story portrayed Bali as a place that is gradually losing its charm as a friendly and desired holiday destination due to scores of problems the administration and the Balinese have yet to address effectively.
Trash, traffic jams and crimes were mentioned in the story as the island’s pressing problems.
Sastrawan said that Bali would follow the steps taken by the Singaporean administration in dealing with the trash problem. One of those steps was stronger law enforcement.
“The provincial administration has finished drafting a bylaw on trash and has submitted the proposed bylaw to the provincial legislative council. The council is currently still deliberating the bylaw,” he said.
Once the council passes the bylaw, the administration will have legal ground to take firmer action against individuals who discard their trash in careless ways or at illegal sites.
The administration is also to construct a high-end waste disposal facility to replace the current landfill at Suwung in South Denpasar.
Suwung landfill’s outdated technology and limited capacity cannot cope with the rising amount of garbage from the island’s four regions.
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