For many years I kept a quotation from Margaret Mead on my
refrigerator door. On the rare occasions that I saw
someone else treasuring the same words, it was as if members
of a secret society had recognized one another. So when
I saw the quotation at the top of a press release from the
Bali Hotel Association, it was as if our little cult of individuals
was gathering strength at last.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the
only thing that ever has.”
Many times I did doubt it. It often felt that my private
battle for Bali’s environment could never be won.
Why take the trouble to wash and recycle my plastic waste
when my neighbour was burning his or throwing it down the
river bank? All over Bali I knew that others were conducting
their own small battles and as the years went by I met many
of them. We didn’t seem to be making much difference.
But lately I notice that all kinds of things are happening.
Pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are starting to fall into place
in a very encouraging way.
Lestari, a private recycling plant started by Bali Fokus,
is now a profitable business that collects recyclables from
many large hotels in Nusa Dua. It sells the plastic,
metal and paper to recyclers in Denpasar and leftover food
to pig farmers, and composts the organics to sell back to
the hotels. Lestari proves that recycling can be commercially
viable.
The Bali Buddha, a little health food café that started
in Ubud 5 years ago and now has a branch in Kerobokan, started
a waste collection service called ABC which collects recyclables
from Ubud area households. Two guys and a small truck
can only do so much, especially given the new price of petrol,
but ABC services over 200 homes a week.
Then Rotary Bali Ubud raised money to build a pilot recycling
plant in Ubud after the Lestari model. When the land deal
fell through, the plant was built at Temesi land fill north
of Gianyar in June 2004. Probably the most comprehensive
waste recycling plant in the country, its conveyer belts,
blowers, balers and giant rotating compost sieve are central
pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. But because most of the
waste that comes here is organic, the sale of recyclables
isn’t yet sufficient to meet costs. Another potential
income stream, selling compost made from the organics, isn’t
cost-effective.
But D, the retired Swiss chemical engineer whose determination
spearheaded the project, refuses to give up. Armed with
meters, sensors, pipes and pumps, he nurses a huge pile of
composting organics in a special corner of the Temesi site.
His goal is to create world-class compost and win carbon creditsfrom
the reduction of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto protocol.
The application process is long, complicated and expensive,
but the compensation will be more than enough to keep the
Temesi project running.
When it became clear that the Temesi recycling plant needed
more paper and plastic to sustain its costs, a couple of tamu
eco-warriors started EcoBali Recycling. Serving about
35 households in the Legian/Seminyak/Cenggu area, it’s
been limited by the costs of renting a truck and other expenses.
Recently, other pieces of the puzzle have been falling into
place with dizzying speed. EcoBali’s activities are
now supported by a trip of Disposal Divas who are helping
to move the fledgling operation ahead. K, a primary teacher
at Sunrise School, wrote a play with her students about recycling
called, “Is It Really Rubbish?” which helps children
understand the concept of source point separation. The
bilingual play has been performed at 6 international schools,
and includes the distribution of materials from IDEP’s
media department. With support from the Bali Hotel Association,
the play will soon be taken into local schools and banjars
where it will be used as an entry point for teacher training.
P, another member of the team, is researching other NGOs,
individuals and groups interested in waste management. Her
goal is to develop permanent teams which can integrate services
with local providers such as scavengers for mutual benefit.
“People are just starting to realize that garbage is
a big issue, but that it can also be profitable,” she
notes. “We are looking for simple, affordable
and realistic solutions to local problems.”
E, the third member of the Divas, is a scientist who was drawn
into Bali’s waste management challenges by the volume
of garbage that appears on the beach near her home after each
rain. She’s undertaken the administration and
public relations tasks for EcoBali, and is managing their
rapidly growing client list of over 80 which now includes
schools. When EcoBali gets a truck of its own, it will be
able to support a much broader client base.
Amanda Pummer from Alila Ubud is responsible for the environmental
arm of the Bali Hotel Association (BHA), which has been doing
great work. “Many of the hotels in Bali didn’t
know where their rubbish was going,” Amanda points out.
“Usually, a local agent is contracted to deal with it,
but he just picks out the recyclables to sell and throws the
rest down the nearest river bank. Hotels produce a lot
of waste, and the BHA is encouraging them to join Green Globe
21, a group of international hotels which have undertaken
responsibility for all their waste from the source to final
disposal.”
The Sol Melia, Sol Melia Benoa and the Hilton have been certified
for Green Globe 21 for the past 2 years. The Conrad,
Alila Ubud, Alila Manis MANGGIS Amandari, Chedi Club and The
Legian are working toward certification by the end of the
year. The BHA helps smaller hotels that can’t
afford certification with advice about best practices.
Liv Gussing (GM of the Amandari and BHA charity executive),
together with Amanda Pummer (GM Alila Manggis and Alila Ubud
and BHA environment executive) have provided the impetus,
energy and vision behind the Temesi Recycling Centre Charity
Dinner to be held Saturday 25 March at The Chedi Club, Tanah
Gajah Ubud. A team of celebrity chefs from The Legian,
Alila Ubud, Amandari and Mozaic will create a 5 course food
and wine experience, with all proceeds going to support the
operating costs of the Temesi Recycling Plant until the carbon
credit application is completed. Contact ubud@alilahotels.com
to reserve for this exclusive event.
It’s enormously heartening to have a broader support
base and the hotel industry on side. Suddenly we’re
not just small, isolated pieces of the puzzle. As more and
more pieces fall into place, a bigger picture is starting
to come clear … a picture of a cleaner, greener Bali
at last.
