24 Feb CTC Joins One Island One Voice – Bali’s Biggest Clean up

CTC joined Bali’s biggest clean-up One Island One Voice for the second straight year. On the day before the clean up, we hosted a group of journalists to discuss the impact of plastic waste in our ocean and hosted them in Nusa Lembongan to see how proper solid waste management is critical to the ecosystem of our small islands.

On the actual clean up day, February 24, 2018, we joined forces with the group located at Pantai Mertasari in Sanur, with the plan to start the clean up at 16:00. Unfortunately, before the clean up could even begin, it started to rain quite heavily.  Regardless, people were still seen cleaning up the beach with their raincoats and umbrellas. Such dedication! As the rain began to settle down, we joined the clean up. The amount of plastic straws and cigarette butts was overwhelming. We tried our best to pick up even the tiniest of plastics and non-organic waste materials. But who knows how much more there still are buried beneath the sand? We also collected plastic items such as plastic wrapped candies, plastic cups with coffee, and little plastic bowls.

As we picked up the trash, people began to take notice of what we were doing. They asked questions and it started a conversation. Even pictures were taken of us to help spread the word to their friends. Locals who were not aware of the event joined us as well. It was a beautiful sight to see.

When a community gets together, nothing is impossible. An hour and a half passed by and we decided to bring our trash to the collection point nearby. There, we separated our trash and disposed of it all correctly. To see the amount of trash collected in just 1 hour was quite heart breaking. It’s really time to stop using single use plastics and dispose our trash properly!