Waves roll in over the black volcanic sand on Sogsogan, a beach in southern Bali. Further out, surfers prepare to master the swell. Bali has long been a tropical paradise destination, but the waves, long beaches, palm trees and party lifestyle associated with the island are overshadowed by an intruder disrupting the idyll.

Plastic bottles, single-use containers, and plastic straws are scattered across the beach. “I paddle through waste when I’m on my board in the water, and on land there are piles of garbage,” says French tourist Lula Marie Seureolu, a regular visitor to Bali since she was a child.

Some days she goes to the beach just to join cleanup activities.

“There is plastic everywhere,” she says.

The problem peaks during the rainy season, between December and February, when rivers heaving with waste spew it out into estuaries and the ocean. Bali and other Indonesian islands lack sufficient waste disposal plants and collection systems, which means that half the generated trash ends up polluting the land, waterways and sea. Indonesia is the world’s second-largest ocean plastic polluter, after China.

Although the outlook is dire, there have been some recent positive changes. Civil society groups and the private sector are on the front lines of the fight. A number of organizations hold daily beach cleanups. The effect is temporary, though, because the next tide will bring in more plastic trash. Any long-term solution will require greater involvement from the government, and that’s what local sisters Melati and Isabel Wijsen are trying to get.

Inspired by a lesson at school seven years ago, when they were 12 and 10, respectively, they started the organization Bye Bye Plastic Bags. It has since grown to become a global movement of predominantly adolescents, who not only want to prohibit plastic bags but have also started a number of other environmental projects.

Read the full article about fighting against plastics by Johan Augustin at Eco-Business.