On February the 15th the fourth ‘Bali’s Biggest Cleanup’ took place. The Bali’s Biggest Cleanup is an iniative by the Bye Bye Plastic Bags organization. Bye Bye plastic Bags is a NGO driven by youth to say NO to plastic bags. The founders of the organazation are Melati and Isabel Wijsen, two young girls committed to make Bali Plastic Bag FREE.
These two unstoppable girls have organized one Cleanup after another already and even went on a hunger strike to convince the government to put a ban on plastic bags. Their mission is to empower people to do what is right through education, campaigns, and political meetings. They call for making a difference one bag at a time. Over the past three years the movement has gathered 45,000 people in 325 locations and prevented 135 tons of plastic from entering our oceans. It was the fourth time the organization invited everyone on the island to have a hand in collecting waste from Bali’s beaches, rivers, streets and villages with this island wide cleanup. The outcome of the cleanup was (a sad) 41,733 items of plastic. The highest percentage of coordinators and volunteers were Indonesian……by far! The youngest coordinator was 12 years old and the oldest 64! More rivers were cleaned up than last year too. The number one single use plastic item was plastic food wraps!
The Window to the World school Green Rangers, Lovina are happy to work in cooperation with this inspirational organazation. Marla Kroll, volunteer to the Green Rangers program in name of Rotary Club Euskirchen in Germany, took on the function of coordinator for the Cleanup in Lovina together with Decky Aldrin, founder of the Window to the World school. Marla thought the Clean up on the 15th of February was a success. “We gathered at the dolphin statue in the centre of Kalibukbuk. Our focus was to clean up the beaches overthere. The weather was good and many people joined in; students from different schools, parents as well as local businesses. I would like to mention; Nachoz restaurant, Green Hill guest house and Agung massage.
It was really nice to work together on this day. However, we should not think that cleaning up our beaches this way is the answer to the garbage problem. We should regard it as an awareness initiative”, Marla said, a couple of days after the big event. “Still, all the plastic we collected will not end up in the ocean which is always a win situation’’. Like the Bye Bye plastic organization states; one bag at the time…..
The Window to the World school in Lovina launched their environment program called Green Rangers in 2018. The program is supported by the local Rotary Club, Rotary Club of Bali Lovina and also is sponsored by Rotary Club Rhenen – Veenendaal, The Netherlands.
The program equips students with useable tools to create a change. Students from schools in the vicinity are joining into this program too. Everybody with the right attitude can become a Green Ranger and the program is free.
The objective of this project is to;
- Create awareness among students, teachers and parents
- Train Green Rangers in setting up and maintaining sustainable garbage management systems using the Window to the World garbage and composting system as an example.
- Understand the Reduce- Reuse-Recycle principle and making it a daily routine.
- Develop understanding that managing garbage is firstly a personal commitment and secondly, a commitment for life.
The program is packed with activities, hands on learning, field trips and discussion time. The Green Rangers are always looking for partners and like minded people. All enthusiastic people with a green mind are welcome to contact the Window to the World school to discuss possibilities to work together. Other partners besides the Bye Bye plastic Bags organization are; Social Impact, True Scuba, NMS Bali, RefillMyBottle, Adirama Hotel, POKMASWAS and local Garbage Banks. You can follow the Window to the World school Green Rangers via the Green Rangers Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Green Rangers.
For more information on Rotary Club of Bali Lovina go to: http://www.jepunsegara.com/rotaryclubbalilovina.
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