TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsRivers, rituals and rubbish: Can Bali stay beautiful?
Can ecotourism be part of the fix? Yes, if Bali uses the legal framework, community willpower, and tourism revenue.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Residents wade through floodwaters in their neighbourhood following heavy rainfall on Sept. 10 in Denpasar, Bali. (AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka)
Jakarta
Bali began September with a deadly disaster. Water flooded all of Denpasar's main streets, unable to drain because the city's drainage systems were clogged with plastic, food waste, banana stems and other debris. Water levels reached 2 meters in some locations, killing at least 17 people. In recent years, even moderate rainfall has paralyzed parts of the Island of the Gods.
The island has sold the world a simple proposition: come for the temples and terraced rice fields, leave with a renewed love of nature. That pitch has worked spectacularly. In 2024, the island welcomed about 6.33 million international visitors and over 10 million domestic. Tourism is central to Bali’s economy and identity. But the ecological bill is coming due, in the form of garbage trucks, clogged rivers and smoke from burning dumps.
Indonesia’s National Waste Information System Management (SIPSN) estimates Bali generated around 1.2 million tonnes of waste in 2024 or 3,400 tonnes a day, two-thirds of which is organic. Denpasar alone accounts for 360,000 tonnes per year. Those mountains of trash do not vanish when the sun sets behind the horizon of Kuta beach.
On paper, Bali has a powerful tool: Law No. 18/2008 on waste management. It mandates waste reduction at the source, environmentally sound processing and government responsibility for integrated systems. Yet reality is far from the law’s spirit.
