Oil Majors Hyped Plastic Recycling To Clean Up Bali; Program Now In Debt And Swimming In Even More Plastic Trash

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) makes high-profile claims about the projects around the world it supports in the pursuit of clearing up plastic waste leaching into the environment. It works with partner organisations in developing countries to support community initiatives to collect and recycle plastic waste. But a visit to one of the earliest projects in Bali reveals it has collected a fraction of the plastic waste it set out to handle.

Based in Jembrana, west Bali, the scheme set out to develop a “life-changing” waste system catering for 160,000 people. It was designed and implemented by the alliance in partnership with Project STOP, which aims to support waste management projects in south-east Asia. Jembrana’s scheme includes a household waste collection service, an educational campaign and sorting buckets for residents, and a new recycling facility, where waste is processed and composted.

The facility was built next to an existing landfill. When the Alliance handed Project STOP Jembrana over to the local government and community last year, it said that it had “reached financial sustainability”. But it reported collecting less than a quarter of the 2,200 tonnes of plastic it originally intended to prevent from entering the oceans each year.

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Unearthed was told by workers that only 35 of the original 53 waste collection vehicles were still operational, and many of those frequently broke down. “There has been no fleet to pick up trash from my house for a long time. So I still use a bucket to collect trash, but I burn the trash behind my house,” resident Ni Luh Sumitri told Unearthed. Crucial waste sorting and recycling equipment is also broken, contributing to the growing waste pile adjoining the site. This waste pile has reportedly caused frequent fires, pollution and foul odours. A landfill worker, who spoke to Unearthed on condition of anonymity, said smoke from fires at the landfill often entered residents’ homes at night.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/20/bali-plastic-recycling-scheme-swamped-with-garbage