Trash, trash, trash

[Fibonacci]

In 2017 Australia gave Indonesia A$356.9m in foreign aid, supposedly for ...supporting Indonesia’s efforts to leverage its own resources to generate growth and distribute those benefits to a larger number of its people. We provide policy and technical advice that will improve the quality of Indonesia's investments in infrastructure, economic governance, human development and social policy, including in the area of law and justice.
Overview of Australia’s aid program to Indonesia
http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/aid-fact-sheet-indonesia.pdf

12% or A$42.8m was earmarked for Agriculture, Fisheries and Water related programs.
Clearly not much went towards tackling plastic pollution... or was skimmed off by notoriously corrupt local governments

 

[WetPup]

In 2017 Australia gave Indonesia A$356.9m in foreign aid, supposedly for ...supporting Indonesia’s efforts to leverage its own resources to generate growth and distribute those benefits to a larger number of its people. We provide policy and technical advice that will improve the quality of Indonesia's investments in infrastructure, economic governance, human development and social policy, including in the area of law and justice.
Overview of Australia’s aid program to Indonesia
http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/aid-fact-sheet-indonesia.pdf

12% or A$42.8m was earmarked for Agriculture, Fisheries and Water related programs.
Clearly not much went towards tackling plastic pollution... or was skimmed off by notoriously corrupt local governments

Yeah, I used to work on those AusAid programs in Indonesia in the past. I'm an exploration geologist, and ended up going to work with local government departments in different provinces around Indo to help train up their mines departments. When they say "leverage its own resources" they really mean shiny stuff in the ground.

 

[Fibonacci]

Part of the problem as mentioned earlier is the plastic is caught up in circular gyres and as fast as it is cleaned up more is deposited!

Where Are the Pacific Garbage Patches? | response.restoration.noaa.gov
How Big Is the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch"? Science vs. Myth | response.restoration.noaa.gov

 

[Dan]

I dived that site 18 months ago. It was not quite that bad, but it was close. It was diving in a landfill.

I dove there 3 months ago (see my post here: Tulamben, Mount Agung, Current Situation... ) but saw no such trash. It goes to show that the Ocean current take those trash to somewhere in Indian Ocean, may be accumulating in Antarctica, if this Indonesian Throughflow - Wikipedia is correct.

 

[falcon125]

Why cant we create plastic that biodegrades in 6 months instead of 400 years?

 

[Fibonacci]

Why cant we create plastic that biodegrades in 6 months instead of 400 years?

Biodegradable plastics have been available for several years, but may not be as environmentally friendly as they first appear... interesting article here:
Biodegradable plastic: What you need to know

 

[aquacat8]

The crazy thing is this has happened SO FAST really since the 1960’s. In the 1940’s things were packed in cool reusable wood and tin boxes that are now collectible, Food was in wax paper or boxes or crockery or cloth or paper bags. It had to be fresher. Cardboard was used beautifully, and glass. Why can’t we just go back to that?

 

[aquacat8]

Beach glass was beautiful, Inloved finding the blue stuff!

 

[WetPup]

The crazy thing is this has happened SO FAST really since the 1960’s. In the 1940’s things were packed in cool reusable wood and tin boxes that are now collectible, Food was in wax paper or boxes or crockery or cloth or paper bags. It had to be fresher. Cardboard was used beautifully, and glass. Why can’t we just go back to that?

It's a tradeoff.
* Paper/wood requires more cutting down of trees...And in today's world of health and safety regulation, they are a lot more unhygenic than plastic.
* Cotton or woolen cloth requires cotton or wool. Cotton farming is water intensive and sheep farming has a significant environmental impact. Also not particularly hygenic.
* Glass requires mining mineral sands which has its own impact on the environment.

Plastic is horrible, but the historic alternatives have their own issues. New materials need to be developed that are both safe from a hygenic standpoint, and environmental standpoint. Researchers are working on it.

 

[billt4sf]

One problem is clearly that we make too much stuff that is non-degradable. That is kind of the West's contribution to the problem.

An issue in Indo is that much of the country has no systematic garbage collection system. We can blame corrupt government for that I suppose.

The good side is that there is definitely much more awareness than in past years -- even in recent past years. Lots of awareness in Bali, but among the locals that I have talked with outside of the diving industry (e.g. those working in our villa), there is next to no awareness.

I am assuming that it will not change unless and until the Indo government realizes that unless they put a stop to dirty beaches in Bali, eventually the tourists will stop coming. By then it will be too late. So I say: DON'T clean up beaches! Bring on the trash! The more, the better!

Sorry for the pessimism.

- Bill