Bali photo of rubbish on beaches that’s ‘heartbreaking to see’

Tourists were horrified to see paradise looking this way, and were then left speechless when told to stop complaining and do this one thing.

A dejected tourist has shared a shocking photograph of Bali beach covered in rubbish on social media.

Posted onto the Bali Travel Forum Facebook group, the traveller shared the moment she was greeted with the site of the popular beach – only to be unable to properly see the sand or water due to the amount of garbage strewn everywhere.

“I’m in Bali now, plastic all over the beach, and in the ocean, in Jimbaran and Uluwatu,” she wrote. “Is there a beach without plastic right now?

“Sad, I ruin my holiday.”

While many commenters were absolutely horrified by the sight of the rubbish along the shore, others urged tourists not to stand idly by simply complaining and not acting to change the situation.

A Bali beach covered in rubbish. Picture: Bali Travel Forum/Facebook

“Pick some up or walk around it,” one commenter wrote.

“The water is still there.”

Another said: “Grab a bag and go pick up some trash, be a good tourist as opposed to posting this. Just saying”.

While a third wrote: “Imagine how different it would be if people picked up just one bag each, instead of complaining about it on Facebook.”

Other words of encouragement included: “Instead of crying in front of a trauma, let’s raise our hands to stop it” and “grab a bucket and help clean it up”.

Others simply voiced their shock and dismay.

“This is what shocked me in Bali! Swimming in a sea of plastic.”

“Wow! Are there clean-up efforts? This is heartbreaking to see.”

“I was in Bali a couple of years ago and some of the beaches I visited looked like this. Very sad and very bad for tourism.”

“It’s so sad to see how us humans treat our beautiful planet.”

Rubbish on Bali beaches has been a problem for many years – this photo was taken in 2017. Picture: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP

Some even said they would reconsider their travel plans.

“I’m planning for next March … this is terrible. I might reconsider after seeing this!”

While others explained the reason why rubbish was arriving on some beaches.

“It’s end of the wet season, all Bali beaches are like this unfortunately … all that rubbish comes in from the rivers etc. during the wet season … will start the clear up soon.”

“Walking the beach yesterday morning there were many people cleaning the beach both paid workers and volunteers. The weather has been very windy and king tides have bought in a lot of rubbish.”

Rubbish is a huge issue in Bali, and Indonesia recorded 68.5 million tonnes of waste in 2021.

During December and March, heavy rain and winds force rubbish down rivers through the regency and then they accumulate on the coastline.

It remains a huge challenge. Picture: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP

Nearby landfill sites are a big factory to blame for the issue, with some of the region’s largest dumping grounds only 25 minutes away by boat.

“With these heavy monsoon rains it’s inevitable that a lot of that landfill rubbish, including an immense amount of plastics, will be washed into the ocean and will head straight for Bali,” Indonesia Institute founder Ross Taylor said last February.

Indonesia is one of the worst contributors to plastic pollution, with 200,000 tonnes of plastic washing into the ocean, according to a study published by the journal Nature Communications in 2017.