This year, R.O.L.E. Foundation joins One Island One Voice annual event, Bali’s Biggest Clean Up. We chose Pura Geger Dalem Pemutih area to be cleaned because it is also one spot that is included in our Eco Surf Rescue program. The event was held on Saturday, 15 February 2020 between 7 to 9 AM.
More than 80 people gathered and they were from different backgrounds. There were elementary school students, tourists, surfers, local people from various backgrounds, and also Bali WISE students. We first gathered on the parking lot area to get a briefing from our coordinator, who was our Environmental Educator.
The cleanup was separated into three different areas: the temple, the parking lot, and Geger Beach. The sun shined so bright and it was quite a hot day, but the cleanup participants were very eager to pick up the waste. Sadly, there was still so much waste there, especially in the parking lot area. This is because people that come to the beach usually eat there.
After we did the cleanup for almost 1,5 hours, with the local kids and also Bali WISE students, we sorted two bags of waste. From those two bags, the waste was dominated by food wrappings. Our Environmental Educator then told us the danger of non-organic waste, especially plastic food wrappings because they cannot degrade themselves, even as years go by. That is why it is important for us to apply 3R principles: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We always emphasize reducing waste first, because recycling is not the big solution!
After enjoying rambutans and bananas as our refreshments plus the group photo session, we sorted the waste in our Zero Waste to Ocean Community Environment and Skills Center with Bali WISE students. We collected 20 bags of almost 90 kilograms of non-organic waste. We sorted the waste into categories that One Island One Voice made in their survey, and count the items. The result remained the same; the waste that we collected was mostly food wrappings (we got more than 3000 pieces of it!)
We have to say again that cleanup in public areas or beaches is not the solution. But we can use this event as an opportunity to educate and spread awareness to people that waste is our problem. Even 80% of waste on the ocean is from the land and those are us, humans, that is responsible for this! That is why we thank you all who came and participated in our Pura Geger cleanup this month! We hope to see you at our next cleanups and together, hopefully, we can reach our dream of zero waste ocean!
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