Hundreds get their hands dirty in Kuta beach clean-up
Andra Wisnu, , The Jakarta Post, , Kuta | Wed, 12/31/2008 10:50 AM | Bali
Hundreds of hotel employees got their hands dirty Saturday morning to remove the trash piling up on Kuta beach, although government officials remain skeptical that the build-up of trash on the beach -- due to seasonal rains -- will ever stop.
In a clean-up campaign initiated by the Kuta district chief and the Badung regent, the hotel employees collected glass, plastic and paper (as well as seaweed and stray branches) that has collected on the shores of Kuta beach.
The frustration among the volunteers was apparent, as they remain helpless against preventing the build up of trash in Kuta. During the rainy season, trash washes down from inland rivers and covers the beach's southern and eastern shores.
"We're cleaning up because this is related to our income as hoteliers. Tourists won't want to come to Bali anymore if this disgusting condition continues," one hotel employee, who was picking up branches in the shore, said.
"It's so ugly and it's so bad for business. But this is all I can do to keep Kuta clean," another hotel employee said.
The campaign was initiated to assist the official Kuta beach task force, which is in charge of keeping Kuta beach clean. The beach's numerous peddlers often take it upon themselves to keep their main source of their income trash free.
This year has been so bad though that, even after the Badung regent deployed hundreds of trash trucks to take away the refuse, it continues to pile up on the coastline.
The curling waves are turning brown from plastic, sediment and other refuse littering the water.
Badung Regent Anak Agung Gde Agung, who was present during the clean-up campaign, said he regretted that the trash continued to pile up this year, though he blamed the occurrence on "natural phenomenon" and said that it hadn't significantly affected the island's tourism industry.
"We haven't had that many complaints because this is now a natural phenomena, it's the strong winds that carry the trash from the deeper areas of the sea onto the shore," he said.
He further blamed fishermen, who throw dead fish back into the sea, for stinking up the beach.
"The smell from the rotting fish is making the smell worse than all the trash build-up and is truly regretful," he said.
Head of the Bali Tourism Board Ngurah Wijaya said he had talked with the regents from each area in an effort to prevent citizens from littering.
"However, this is in the hands of each regent so I cannot guarantee that it won't happen again next year.
"In fact, I'm pretty sure this is going to happen again next year," he said.
Meanwhile, tourists spending their day in Kuta on Monday expressed nothing but disappointment at the less than savory condition of the beach.
"It's literally the dirtiest beach ever," said Sherrie McKibben, 50, a tourist from Ohio who had spent years living in Surabaya and holidaying in Bali.
"And it's a big problem, because this beach is the face of Indonesia and I don't think tourists would ever come here again if this continues," she said, adding that she planned to spend her holiday in Ubud.
Noah Dwyer-Voss, 15, a tourist from California, said he didn't mind the stench but would not consider swimming in the water due to the high amount of trash.
"It's just annoying to be playing in the beach, and then you got plastic floating next to you," he said.
Arif Yudhi, 22, a student who was vacationing from Magelang, Central Java, was surprised to see the famous Kuta beach this dirty.
"This is my first time and I've got to say this is not how I imagined it to be," he said.
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Gede Seputra (not verified) — Thu, 01/01/2009 - 4:12pm
This is not a new phenomenon and will definitely happen again next year, the year after and so on until people are taught that it's not OK to dump garbage into rivers in the first place.
I first saw the beach from Tuban, Kuta, Legian completely covered in trash about 20-25 years ago! At the time, local Balinese said the rubbish came from Java. I'm sure a lot of it still does. I'm also sure a lot of it these days comes from Bali itself.
Bali needs some serious educating regarding matters such as this. It also needs more active policing to catch dumpers, regardless of how big or small they are. Failing that, Bali will continue to grow into an even more filthier place and cosmetic "clean-ups" will be just that...rather futile attempts to sweep dust under the carpet.
Public officials definitely need to get their act together, not just talk about "issues". After all, no one should be surprised if one day soon many tourists decide to go somewhere else.
The "damage" has already been done, years ago. Fix it before it gets even worse, or suffer the consequences.