Sweet Travels with another edition from our journey to Indonesia in July 2019. Today, we’d like to talk about waste management, with the example of the organization Trash Hero in Indonesia.

When travelling, a lot of questions came to our mind: Is ecological and sustainable travel possible? Considering the use of airplanes, rented motorbikes and cars, public buses to get around — all of them slingshots for this planet. And of course all the plastic bottles for drinking water, all the food that is wrapped, sometimes you eat with disposable tableware, people use plastic bags for shopping, one-way drinking cups, plastic straws for drinking juice or a cocktail. And then, sunscreen that pollutes the seas and corals, etc.

Garbage is a global issue and can be found practically everywhere: on streets, in forests, on beach, in the sea. It’s mainly plastic waste, from disposable drinking water cups to plastic straws and cans. The people worldwide, and also the tourists, are probably not prepared for this packaging madness. We spent several days on an Indonesian island called Gili Meno, and there we took a closer look at the waste management on this island. On our research, we discovered not only waste, but also the Trash Hero movement.

Trash Hero is a volunteer movement, a community-based organization. The Trash Hero mission is to bring communities together, motivating and supporting them to clean up and to reduce waste, mostly through education. We talked to the responsible persons of Trash Hero on Gili Meno island: Sulman Alfarizi Ali and his brother Samsul “Adi” Hadi.

Playlist:
Semar Pegulingan – Taboehgan
Gender Wayang – Abimenijoe
Live Music — Brotherhood – Kingston Town
Brotherhood – Welcome to Gili Meno