JAKARTA, April 24 (Reuters): For the past two months, Indonesia-based environment activist Gary Bencheghib has been living in a 12-square-metre tiny house constructed from 35,000 plastic bags sourced from Bali's polluted rivers.
The interior and furniture in the house, such as bedframe and kitchen cabinets, were also fully made of plastic cups and straws waste, Bencheghib said.
"I decided why not recycle the plastics that we're collecting from the rivers, and show what we can do with it,” Bencheghib said in a tour with Reuters in his tiny home overlooking Bali's pristine ocean.
The 28-year-old started a movement "Sungai Watch" to clean up clogged rivers, littered beaches and illegal trash dumping sites around Bali and Java over the past two years to stop trash from going into the ocean.
After completing his first house made of recycled plastics, Bencheghib is looking to further develop the house model and mass-produce it for natural disaster victims.
Bencheghib's efforts highlight the upcycling trend on the Indonesian resort island that records about 915,500 tonnes of trash being thrown out in 2021 alone, according to the Environment and Forestry Ministry, with the majority of the waste coming from households and businesses.
One of Bali's high-end beach clubs is also pushing a zero waste effort by creating its furniture and decors out of trash.
Chairs, necklaces, tissue boxes and coasters in the Potato Head beach club were re-created in their facility by using kilograms of trash.
"It's really simply a process that's based on creativity, so we look at the waste that is generated and then we try to get creative about what we can do with it, using science, design, different elements," the Chief Experience Officer of Potato Head, Simon Pestridge told Reuters at a workshop in the beach club.
Bali's iconic beaches have in recent years been littered with plastic trash during the peak of the monsoon season, as heavy winds and rain wash up pollution from neighbouring Java island. At least 600 tonnes of trash was recorded between October to December 2022, data from the Bali government showed.
Locals and tourists, however, are optimistic that Bali is moving in the 'right direction'.
"It's impressive the initiative that the Balinese people, the hotels and what most people around here doing in terms of collecting and recycling waste, "said a tourist from Thailand Napas Vongkusolkit.
The local government has made efforts in reducing plastic waste in the resort island such as by banning plastic bags in supermarkets.
Plastic pollution threatens the extinction of marine species, and microplastics have now become part of the food chain, with environmental groups warning of severe consequences for life and the planet. - Reuters
