There are a number of reasons why see you people disposing of rubbish thoughtlessly. Traditionally Balinese would burn any rubbish, including dry leaves and paper—basically anything that was not snapped up by hungry scavengers. Still today, this is one of the most popular ways of dealing with unwanted waste—if you ever fly over Bali in the late afternoon you can see little of the island bar plumes of smoke. This is a sad state of affairs for a fragile island ecosystem.
While in many countries, for both health (respiratory disorders and cancer being the main ones) and environmental reasons (including high fire risk), rubbish incineration has been banned. Indonesia, it seems, has yet to catch up. Personally I’m unsure if there is any such law; what is certain is that there is zero implementation. During certain seasons in Bali, if you live next to a rice field your house will constantly smell smoky and sitting outside becomes thoroughly unpleasant. The worst, however, is those inconsiderate, uneducated folks who burn plastic rubbish—not only putting themselves and their families at risk but also their whole community.
One major reason that people resort to burning rubbish is that they get fed up waiting for the government rubbish trucks to arrive. In addition to unreliable pick-ups, in most villages households are charged not volumetrically but based on your ethnicity. Balinese are charged the lowest (Rp.10,000/month is common), then non-Balinese Indonesians (Rp.25,000/mth); and finally the price escalates exponentially if you are a foreigner (Rp.50,000-100,000/mth), especially if you don’t speak Indonesian. This type of ingrained racism is also a cultural thing, based on misconceptions about how non-Balinese are often involved in criminal activity and also on foreigners who can simply pluck the dollars off their money trees in their (‘vila’) backyards! Some people resent this and choose to deal with waste disposal in their own way; hence more burning and illegal dumping. Until traditional society can modify and modernise this way of thinking, the environment, and consequently society, will continue to suffer.
