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The Bali Trash Problem

Bali Garbage?

So according to an article on Kompas online, a tax will be implemented for tourists in Bali. A charge of 150,000 rupiahs will be charged to the tourists to better deal with garbage. The article sounds about as convincing as me selling you swampland in Florida at a discounted price because, well it’s swampland and global warming will dry that area up in no time flat!

Yes, exactly my thoughts. It is not even the 150k that bothers me. What bothers me is that besides a landfill and the locals burning nearly everything, there is no comprehensive plan. No one recycles and the ones that claim to care truly do not. I have visited NGOs and even a local recycling company to get their views. 

In Ubud

This particular company is located in Ubud and I had the pleasure of visiting them with my brother. The visit was great, we got a lot of information from him and got his take on some of the problems in Bali. According to him, they were starting from the top down. Meaning, they wanted to start with the communities in the mountains and work their way down. They had a comprehensive plan, but so did many of the garbage collection and supposed recycling companies. Everyone needs to work together and so far everyone is working individually. 

We all know, shit floats and so does the garbage, right?

It is obvious since it ends up at the beach as it gets carried downstream from the rivers and during the rainy season. As many tourists and myself can point out, most tourist attractions are also garbage dumps. It may or may not be hidden but the garbage is there. 

Please Forgive Me!

It has come to my attention that many locals tend to dispose of waste materials such as bottles, tissues, and food by throwing them on the streets or in rivers. I believe that by providing garbage cans and recycling boxes, the government can encourage tourists and locals to use them. In Europe and North America, it is common to segregate garbage and use the appropriate facilities for items such as bottles and batteries. By implementing similar practices, we can create a cleaner and more sustainable environment.

This tax on tourists is fine, go for it. However, do not piss away the money with corruption and bullshit programs. The locals need to be educated and the local recycling facilities need to be built, maintained, and used so the island of Bali can be cleaned up. This tax should be used to such effect. Until I see a government recycling truck and NGOs all working together and pulling the cart in the same direction, screw off with your taxes. 

Zsolt Zsemba

Zsolt Zsemba has worn many different hats. He has been an entrepreneur, and businessman for over 30 years. Living abroad has given him many amazing experiences in life and also sparked his imagination for writing. After moving to Canada from Hungary at the age of 10 and working in a family business for a large part of his life. The switch from manufacturing to writing came surprisingly easily for him. His passion for writing began at age 12, mostly writing poetry and short stories. In 1999, the chance came to write scripts. Zsolt took some time off from his family business to write in Jakarta Indonesia for MD Entertainment. Having written dozens of soap operas and made for TV movies, in 2003 Zsolt returned to the family business once more. In 2018, he had the chance to head back to Asia once again. He took on the challenge to be the COO for MD Pictures and get back into the entertainment business. The entertainment business opened up the desire to write once more and the words began to flow onto the pages again. He decided to rewrite a book he began years ago. Organ House was reborn and is a fiction suspense novel while Scars is a young adult drama focused on life’s challenges. After the first two books, his desire to write not only became more challenging but enjoyable as well. After having several books completed he was convinced to publish them for your enjoyment. Zsolt does not tend to stay in one specific genre but tends to lean towards strong female leads and horror. Though he also has a few human interest books, he tends to write about whatever brews in his brain for a while.