It’s that time again… Yes, the trend of New Year’s resolutions is here, where we make goals and promises for ourselves in the coming year. How many of last year’s resolutions did you manage to achieve?
If your answer is ‘very few’, you’re likely in good company. So how can you improve that for 2022? We have a suggestion, why not create resolutions that are made to help something bigger than yourself, say, the island of Bali for example?
As many of us know, Bali often starts each new year with its beaches awash in rubbish. The torrential rains clear the island’s waterways and with it a year’s worth of plastic and litter – not a good way to start! So to counter this, why not use your resolutions to pledge to do better for Bali’s environment by managing your waste, consumption and practices.
To help you start this journey, we’re sharing 4 ways you can be more sustainable in Bali this 2022.
(1) Recycling in Bali
One of the best ways to ensure that you are not contributing to Bali’s plastic pollution or landfill waste is through effective waste management and recycling.
One of Bali’s most professional services for this is ecoBali Recycling. The company will provide you with two bins (one for paper, the other for plastic, metal and glass) which are then collected every week by their team. This encourages you to separate your waste at source, ensuring that this resource can be effectively repurposed, recycled or repurposed. Their services caters to homes, offices, restaurants, hotels and more. Fees for households start as low as IDR 115.000 per month + 10% VAT, with a minimum of 6 months subscription.
Sign up now: WA +6282237799819 | info@eco-bali.com | eco-bali.com
If you have commitment issues (looking at you, millenials!) don’t worry, there’s another way you can recycle in Bali without a 6-month subscription. An Indonesian application called Octopus provides on-demand pick-up services for certain types of waste, you can earn points and even cash through the application. You can collect and separate your waste, then when you’re ready submit the quantity into the application and ask for it to be picked up. The type of waste is currently limited to: plastic bottles, plastic cups, glass bottles, HDPE plastics (like shampoo bottles) and aluminium cans. Not as comprehensive as ecoBali who ensure 90% material recovery from the plastic, glass, metal and paper they collect.
Find out more: IG @octopus.ina | https://linktr.ee/octopus.ina | Search for Octopus on your App/Play Store.
(2) Composting in Bali
One of the simplest steps in improving waste repurposing is by ensuring waste isn’t contaminated by organic materials. Separating organic material from inorganic waste also decreases methane emissions in waste sites.
In Bali, a really simple and effective service available is Urban Compost. They will provide you with a simple bucket in which you throw your food scraps, coffee grains., and this is then collected every week and replaced with a clean bucket for the next week. Every 3 months you are given a full bucket of compost you can use in your own garden! They also provide services for garden waste.
For households this service is only IDR 100.000 per month, with a minimum of 3-month subscription. Fees for hotels start at IDR 250.000 per month, with a minimum of 3-months.
Sign Up Now: WA +6281936109070 | urbanbiologistbali.com/urban_compost
(3) KESAN – Single-Use Mask Disposal
Masks take up to 450 years to biodegrade in nature, and at the end of 2020 alone more than 1.6 million single-use masks were found in Indonesia’s oceans! Since the pandemic began there have been no environmentally-conscious methods for disposing of single-use masks, until now.
The KESAN (Kresek Kesadaran) project allows individuals, communities and organisations to collect their masks in biodegradable bags. Once full, the bags are delivered to a facility in Bandung that uses hydrothermal treatment and then repurposes them into new durable materials such as blocks, furniture and even art. By being repurposed and embedded into permanent materials, their harmful effects (plastic microfibres) will never make it into the our environments.
If you have masks at home and you don’t know how to dispose of them, buy a bag and start to fill it up! This can be done at home, at work, or with a community. Bags are dropped off or sent to the NOW! Bali office.
Service starts at IDR 125.000 per bag, or IDR 1.250.000 for 10 bags, inclusive of delivery to Bandung facility once full.
Sign Up Now: nowbali@phoenix.co.id | nowbali.co.id/kesan
(4) Bulk Up in 2022!
By that we don’t mean body building, we mean why not make the habit of frequenting Bali’s bulk stores to reduce your consumption and purchasing of products wrapped in plastic.
There are already quite a few bulk-stores that can be found around Bali, and whilst they don’t offer everything you need they certainly provide more sustainable alternatives. Here are a list of bulk-stores or semi-bulk stores in Bali:-
Zero Waste Bali: Kerobokan & Seseh
Bali Buda: Ubud, Kerobokan, Canggu, Renon, Bukit, Batu Bulan
Alive Whole Foods Store: Canggu, Umalas
From the Farm Bali:Berawa
Soil Food Temple: Seminyak
Bali Refill Station: Berawa
Bumi Bulk Store: Kerobokan
