Interesting if you put the dots together.
Like, styrofoam is only what, a couple, a meter away from the fish that just died.
So, connecting the dots here again and seeing...hmm.
I’m in the island of Bali, Indonesia, and I’m taking an evening stroll with Melati Wijsen, a Balinese teenager.
Melati’s no ordinary youth though.
She’s just 17 years old, but together with her 15-year-old sister Isabel,
the two of them have met with world leaders, celebrities and spoken at numerous global events.
Recently, she was invited as the Inspirational Speaker at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bali.
That’s because Melati’s been fighting to tackle plastic pollution.
Her hometown Bali may be a holiday paradise for many, but it has such a serious waste problem
that the government declared a “garbage emergency” last year.
It started five years ago with my sister, and we were at the time,
I was 12 years old and my sister was 10. This is our home beach.
So we grew up here on the island of Bali.
One thing is really the awakening of, you know recognising that plastic was everywhere,
whether we were going swimming in the ocean, tanning on the beach,
walking through the rice fields, on the street. Plastic was everywhere.
Melati and her sister, Isabel, decided that even though they were young,
they could not wait for change to happen.
Taking matters into their own hands, they decided to set up
Bye Bye Plastic Bags to get people to say no to using plastic.
Melati took me to her local beach, just 100 metres from her house, to show me the extent of plastic pollution.
Sorry, some plastic.
That's some plastic that they've found.
This stuff washes up all the time and it's not only coming from the oceans, it's coming from the land.
Plastic is literally everywhere.
It’s pretty ironic as well if you think about it that the bin is just here but the plastic is there.
Oh, yeah.
It’s because this bin never gets picked up, so they kind of get fed up and dump it all in there.
Indonesia has a serious plastic problem.
It’s the world’s second-largest plastic polluter, right behind China.
That’s because of many factors, such as the many plastic products
offered in Indonesia to suit its emerging market of consumers.
We have all of these single, single day packs for shampoo or you have five peanuts
or five pieces of keropok, like crackers, rice crackers, in their own single, plastic bag.
And we consume it every day without thinking about the consequences.
Indonesia also faces the problems of a fast-growing population
and a general lack of awareness on plastic pollution.
Again, the statement of people on the island do not care. I don't believe in that.
I think the people don't know what else to do.
To combat the problem, Bye Bye Plastic Bags has raised awareness through some of the biggest
beach clean-ups in Bali, bringing together more than 35,000 people in the last two years.
The organisation, which is run on donations and by volunteers, have also put together
a booklet to educate children on plastic pollution and what they can do to reduce plastic use.
Melati is taking a gap year before starting university, and she’s working on several projects,
such as a social enterprise making bags out of recycled materials.
As part of the One Island One Voice project, her latest initiative is getting businesses
in Bali to commit to using fewer plastic items like straws and bags.
She has more than 350 businesses on board in just three months.
And aims to get 1,000 by the end of the year.
It’s been a rollercoaster ride for both Melati and Isabel, but they have been persistent and pretty fearless.
Four years ago, they even staged a hunger strike to get
the governor of Bali to meet them. And he responded with an offer to meet.
He signed a memorandum of understanding to work together with Bye Bye Plastic Bags,
and later declared a commitment for Bali to be plastic free by 2018.
That hasn’t happened yet, but Melati says she isn’t deterred.
As a 17-year-old changemaker what has been super interesting
and a learning curve for me has been learning how to deal with politicians.
So I would say it's like dancing with politicians,
it's three steps forward two steps back and then again and again.
There are many organisations trying to raise awareness,
and plenty of eco-friendly businesses selling plastic-free products.
In Bali, many hotels and restaurants have gone plastic free,
preferring to use to paper straws or recyclable straws instead.
Indonesia has set a goal to reduce plastic waste by 70% by 2025.
And with passionate young Indonesians like Melati and Isabel,
the country may well be able to win its battle against plastic pollution.