INDONESIA: Rubbish Mountain Hurting Tourism

Bali’s booming tourism industry is proving a mixed blessing for the Indonesian island as the rubbish from holidaymakers reach alarming levels.

Only 6.4km from the popular tourist strip of Kuta is the Suwung waste disposal centre which contains a mountain of noxious smelling garbage that grows daily. It is 20m high in places and covers 30 hectares.

Much of it comes from the hotels and restaurants frequented by Australian tourists and the Bali government fears it could cause pollution and hazardous run off into water systems.

Bali’s Deputy Governor, Ketut Sudikerta, says the amount of rubbish has reached alarming levels.

“More tourists means more rubbish from the hotels. It makes me worried and it makes me concerned about how to handle this,” Mr Sudikerta said.

Rubbish is a problem in all parts of Indonesia as this photo taken at Tambaklorok Beach in Semarang shows.

He is concerned that if it continues to grow it may threaten the prized tourist industry.

“We must have a position on that, if now we will have a problem for the future and maybe tourists won’t want to come to Bali,” he said.

“At the moment we need the tourists, most of our income comes from tourists but as a tourist destination we have to take care of the culture and the environment,” he added.

Mr Sudikerta says the Government is looking at private companies manage the garbage dump and possibly convert the garbage to renewable energy, natural gas and bricks.