Bali recycling scheme gives a lifeline

Trash for rice: Silver craftsman I Wayan Adi Semara Putra, 34, carrying a plastic sack with plastic waste to exchange it for rice at a collection place in Gianyar, Bali. — Reuters

For Balinese souvenir shop owner I Kadek Rai Nama Rupat, the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have been a fight for survival. The pandemic has prevented the foreign tourists who usually throng businesses like his on the Indonesian resort island from coming, and rising food prices have compounded the economic pain.

But a local non-profit group is offering help by exchanging rice for plastic trash that is then sold to a recycling company.