In Reply to: And when they sweep and clean posted by masuraka on Tuesday, 31. March 2009 at 09:40 Bali Time:
Balinese, and Indonesians in general, often do not have access to rubbish removal. Rubbish of all kinds, including food scraps and plastic bags, are thrown on the ground. The women then sweep up the rubbish into small piles and burn it.
I have observed that most Indonesians are not aware in regard to throwing rubbish on the ground and you will see them litter without thought most of the time. In countries like Australia, a great deal of money has been invested in public education in regard to not littering. In addition, we have excellent waste disposal facilities.
Also, we have teams of people who clean up after the population on a daily basis. Councils pay people to pick up the rubbish that litters our street verges and parks - you would not believe how disgusting Australia would look if this didn't happen. It is incredible how much rubbish is picked up every day by our local council. This is all funded by taxes. There is not a tax base in Indonesia to fund this kind of thing, and so there is a noticable difference.
The litter problem in Bali is getting worse and worse. The disgraceful condition of Kuta beach at certain times of the year is evidence of the amount of rubbish being dumped into the ocean by the Balinese (even though they continue to blame other islands). But governments spending money on waste disposal while other parts of the population goes without the basic needs of food, health care and education is a real challenge, and one not easily solved.