Confronted by Indonesia’s Out of Control Plastic Pollution Problem at Komodo National Park
Episode 412 : Season 13 : Sailing Indonesia
Hello Friends,
On this episode we sail to the uninhabited island of Gili Banta Island and are confronted by the very sad and common reality of plastic pollution here in Indonesia. The plastic trash in this country is completely out of control. From the lack of infrastructure to the lack of desire of the people to the endless production of non-recyclable plastics being churned out by corporations in the form of single use servings, this poisoning of our planet seems like an impossible problem when you walk in the jungles, towns and beaches of Indonesia.
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#sailingIndonesia #alberg30 #southeastasia #plasticpollution #plastic
32 Comments
I agree with you regarding plastic waste. It sounds like the Indonesians need to do something different about waste, it looks disgusting. Even if someone was uneducated, surely they'd have some kind of moral compass to know what they are doing is wrong?
So can you tell us what you do with your rubbish whilst travelling around these islands?
There is a song "red plastic cup" about having parties and being a fool. That plastic shard is everywhere worldwide and needs to be addressed.
Yeah this is really sad…Mr beast & Mark rober have tried helping with the problem & if anyone can put a dent in it it’s them. They honestly already have but it obviously didn’t fix the problem. If you’re not familiar with “team seas” you should look into it it’ll make you proud. They have a FB it’s a movement created by Mr beast & mark rober.
I was just in Bali and it was really bad. Ruined the beauty of it all
Heart braking
Couple of thoughts here:
1. People will change their habits for money. So… a) when they start loosing tourists (and they get a significant chunk of their budget from it), or b) when they are motivated to clean up. In Europe we have returning fee for plastic bottles which some people practically make their livelihood of. Not a rich life but helps some people and keeps A LOT of plastic off streets.
2. Inland is even worse. You just can't see it as transparent as on beaches- water does cleaning for us and this is why it is always beaches.
3. It is money and corruption. Indonesia is one of these countries/regulation areas where western companies thrive. We all contribute. More than we know. There are other documentaries about industries in Indonesia which make your stomach twirl.
Thank you for spreading awareness.
Same in the Caribbean 😢
In the Carribean people don't even say hi to each other and my native friend said its because they don't have any education..😂😂😂😂
Yeah James several decades ago I was driving from California to Guatemala and picked up a young man hitchhiking in rural Mexico, he spoke little English and my Español was pretty rough but we had a lengthy conversation about trash along roadways and its proximity to villages. (I had stopped him from throwing an empty can out my truck's window) The gist of the discussion was that to these poor of the poorest the trash was emblematic of that they were on the path to success. More trash was a good thing. Also, picking up trash is something the Untouchables deal with. I suspect that SE Asia is at this level of cultural evolution.
Thanks for this James. Something needs to be done about this.
No doubt plastic needs to go…it’s inert and will never biodegrade ..that area of the world is so beautiful and yet the people are such poor stewards of that beauty ..truly sad…thank you for the heartfelt video..
I'm an American that lives in Asia and the trash issue is incredible here. Only a few countries in the world cause this problem and they aren't going to do anything about it. The major problem is we as westerners see this and feel alarm rightfully so but our fix is to kill our economies. We kill our industry, power supply and put incredible taxes on our citizens to fix an issue that we can't control.
India is extremely bad as well. They all can have modern militaries, technology etc. research has it that babies are being born with micro plastics. Yes it's world wide. And it all boils down to oil corporations who sell sell sell.i have stopped eating fish for many reasons toxins, plastic, the world had made the oceans a dumping ground, that includes every country for everything, nuclear waste to toilet flushing. The West is terrible in a different way , the high profits of garbage "management" the west is known for shipping to their garbage abroad, it increases profits, not having to worry about what happens to it.
So so sad 😢
The lack of garbage disposal infrastructure is the main cause of the problem. Unlike many countries, I did not see a regular household garbage disposal service where I went in Indonesia. You know people complain about government taxes, but I am thankful that in Australia we have a range f services that are paid for through taxes and local government levies. I do not know if the ability to raise revenue for such services exists in Indeonesia.
James, I appreciate very much, your shedding what we rarely see on ocean trash. Love the content. Keep up the great work
Like ALL other countries, waterways/canals are used as rubbish tips, which washes out to oceans.
South Australia had deposits on plastic bottles back in 1977, others were far behind, NT 2012, NSW 2017, ACT & QLD 2018, WA 2020, VIC 2023.
The ban on single use plastic bags has only been implmented in the past 5 years, it needs to be global.
As a truck driver in Au, I've witnessed many throw rubbish out their windows, metro & rural.
Loved the tree trunk swing clip 🙌 Sad to see so much plastic, we are headed to Indonesia soon – will be a sad sight to see in person.
Your obviously heartfelt sorrow over this global tragedy was touching. I appreciate the way scrupulously avoid rants based in your personal beliefs, but this needed to be said. Thanks, as always, for what you do and who you are.
sad, I've seen landfills in the us that are cleaner than that.
We only have one planet and this is how we treat it like trash!
Seeing any garbage in bodies of water is upsetting. Seeing the amount of crap in those waters is hard to watch.
I've bought up Indo waste all over the top end of Australia on other channels, most people just say I'm being Racist but I had no idea a plastic bottle could be effected in such a way.
That region in general needs to clean up its act and Australia shoukdbe suing for cleanliness rather than have our dumfukkery pm whine about an unharmed wombat that probably had a favour done by scaring away from the road.
Thomas Dambo is an artist that uses junk to make art. We are lucky to have a few of his pieces in the woods of Washington (PNW USA). Here is a project he did involving residents of Mexico City using their plastic garbage – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfu4pocHs2U
It's the culture.
People need to see these kinds of videos and the world needs to act ! Great job !
So sad 🙁
I was in Thailand last year and even the Phi Phi islands is 1000 times dirtier than my local tasmanian beaches. Its strange when you realise your paradise is so much better than some famous place.
Agree. Thanks.
Yes, it is heartbreaking!
Let me spear off your boat mate for a a few weeks I’ll provide you all the fish the ocean has to give