Joannes Rhino's Blog

SOLEMEN - Making a Difference in People’s Lives

Bali based NGO Yayasan Solemen Indonesia gives hope, creates smiles and makes a difference in many people’s lives every day. Since its inception in 2010, Yayasan Solemen has morphed into a dynamic organisation with a serious mission that reaches far beyond the original goal. A great outreach programme was created to benefit the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled, the homeless and the marginalised in Bali. Their goal is to alleviate the misery of extreme poverty by bringing hope and solutions, while at the same time focusing on individual cases that remain hidden from public view and hence are separated from easy access to medical treatment.
 Solemen reaches people who fall through the cracks and are not helped by the existing network of charitable organisations and government programmes. Many of them are difficult to find, mostly because Balinese culture dictates that misery, disease, disability and poverty should be hidden from the outside world.
 Handling children and adults with pernicious diseases, acute and untreated medical problems, Solemen also handles those who need crucial medical intervention, ongoing therapy or medications. Helping all ages, conditions and religions all-around Bali, their Outreach Team travels huge distances often in arduous circumstances to help others. They are fully transparent, audited and have no religious bias.
 Solemen’s great Outreach Team is making a vast difference in the lives of those in need. A roving, fast-acting team of volunteer doctors and nurses, backed by salaried local team members, has been canvassing the remote areas of this island to find the hidden misery of untreated disease, disability, extreme poverty and destitution. Their caseload has mushroomed, and they are currently approaching the needy with more people added every month. This situation creates a critically-strained team’s resources. The team operates on a shoestring budget, but, amazingly, they continue unabated and work wonders by focusing their efforts on providing effective and targeted help where it will have the most impact.
  As the most visible and trusted charity on the island, Solemen is not the recipient of government funds or assistance from large institutional donors. Instead, their work is funded by donations from empathic individuals and through a partnership with businesses or corporate supporters. Solemen’s CSR charity programmes with hotels are now helping to support their Outreach programmes. That corporate support can have a far-reaching impact is amply illustrated by their long-term partnerships with hotels, such as Hard Rock Hotel Kuta and Bali Dynasty Resort.
 CSR programmes, especially those focusing on charitable and philanthropic engagement with the community in which they operate, are gaining popularity and are becoming an important part of a hotel’s “doing well by doing good” business strategy. Hotel guests contribute through a voluntary opt-out $1 per stay donation. Such amount will create social and health benefits for the community. Other sponsors support it on a monthly basis to make sure that the needy children receive monthly sponsorships (medical, nutritional or educational needs). This programme also covers medical assessments for children suffering from a wide range of medical conditions, provides wheelchairs for disabled children and adults, prostheses for amputees, and basic household necessities for the desperately poor.
 Corporate involvement in Solemen’s partnership programmes is a win-win situation for both parties. Such corporate sponsorship makes it possible for Solemen to do what they do best, which is to create ‘hope and change lives’ for those in desperate need.
 Solemen have recently formed a new partnership with Scholars of Sustenance, a non-profit food rescue organisation, to collect and redistribute nutritious food for the Solehouse and their Solebuddies in local hospitals. The first generous collection included food from Hard Rock Hotel Kuta. As the programme expands, they expect more hotels will join this noble cause in order to feed more undernourished people. Solemen already has several initiatives in place to provide monthly food parcels to impoverished families and nutritious milk supplements to malnourished children and adults. The Scholars of Sustenance is a most welcome addition to their efforts.
 All of these efforts need sustainable funding to be able to continue the momentum. As the workload becomes heavier, daily costs rise in tandem. Besides donations from caring supporters and corporate sponsors, they try to fill the shortfalls with other fundraising initiatives, such as the Solemen’s expanding merchandise collection, which includes the popular SoleTeddies, hand-made mahogany fans, Moringa super supplements, caps, t-shirts, singlets and attractive souvenir gift books.
 The sad truth is that there are more people in need than the fund to care for them all. As they mostly operate close to breakeven, Solemen is still in need of more funding and contributions. No matter how much money they raise, they continually encounter more disadvantaged people who are in desperate need of intervention and care. As such, the circle never closes. However, this quest shall go on! Together, we can change more lives!

Yayasan Solemen Indonesia
Paradise Property Building 3rd floor
Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, Siligita, South Kuta
www.solemen.org
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

SOLEMEN - Making a Difference in People’s Lives

Bali based NGO Yayasan Solemen Indonesia gives hope, creates smiles and makes a difference in many people’s lives every day. Since its inception in 2010, Yayasan Solemen has morphed into a dynamic organisation with a serious mission that reaches far beyond the original goal. A great outreach programme was created to benefit the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled, the homeless and the marginalised in Bali. Their goal is to alleviate the misery of extreme poverty by bringing hope and solutions, while at the same time focusing on individual cases that remain hidden from public view and hence are separated from easy access to medical treatment.
 Solemen reaches people who fall through the cracks and are not helped by the existing network of charitable organisations and government programmes. Many of them are difficult to find, mostly because Balinese culture dictates that misery, disease, disability and poverty should be hidden from the outside world.
 Handling children and adults with pernicious diseases, acute and untreated medical problems, Solemen also handles those who need crucial medical intervention, ongoing therapy or medications. Helping all ages, conditions and religions all-around Bali, their Outreach Team travels huge distances often in arduous circumstances to help others. They are fully transparent, audited and have no religious bias.
 Solemen’s great Outreach Team is making a vast difference in the lives of those in need. A roving, fast-acting team of volunteer doctors and nurses, backed by salaried local team members, has been canvassing the remote areas of this island to find the hidden misery of untreated disease, disability, extreme poverty and destitution. Their caseload has mushroomed, and they are currently approaching the needy with more people added every month. This situation creates a critically-strained team’s resources. The team operates on a shoestring budget, but, amazingly, they continue unabated and work wonders by focusing their efforts on providing effective and targeted help where it will have the most impact.
  As the most visible and trusted charity on the island, Solemen is not the recipient of government funds or assistance from large institutional donors. Instead, their work is funded by donations from empathic individuals and through a partnership with businesses or corporate supporters. Solemen’s CSR charity programmes with hotels are now helping to support their Outreach programmes. That corporate support can have a far-reaching impact is amply illustrated by their long-term partnerships with hotels, such as Hard Rock Hotel Kuta and Bali Dynasty Resort.
 CSR programmes, especially those focusing on charitable and philanthropic engagement with the community in which they operate, are gaining popularity and are becoming an important part of a hotel’s “doing well by doing good” business strategy. Hotel guests contribute through a voluntary opt-out $1 per stay donation. Such amount will create social and health benefits for the community. Other sponsors support it on a monthly basis to make sure that the needy children receive monthly sponsorships (medical, nutritional or educational needs). This programme also covers medical assessments for children suffering from a wide range of medical conditions, provides wheelchairs for disabled children and adults, prostheses for amputees, and basic household necessities for the desperately poor.
 Corporate involvement in Solemen’s partnership programmes is a win-win situation for both parties. Such corporate sponsorship makes it possible for Solemen to do what they do best, which is to create ‘hope and change lives’ for those in desperate need.
 Solemen have recently formed a new partnership with Scholars of Sustenance, a non-profit food rescue organisation, to collect and redistribute nutritious food for the Solehouse and their Solebuddies in local hospitals. The first generous collection included food from Hard Rock Hotel Kuta. As the programme expands, they expect more hotels will join this noble cause in order to feed more undernourished people. Solemen already has several initiatives in place to provide monthly food parcels to impoverished families and nutritious milk supplements to malnourished children and adults. The Scholars of Sustenance is a most welcome addition to their efforts.
 All of these efforts need sustainable funding to be able to continue the momentum. As the workload becomes heavier, daily costs rise in tandem. Besides donations from caring supporters and corporate sponsors, they try to fill the shortfalls with other fundraising initiatives, such as the Solemen’s expanding merchandise collection, which includes the popular SoleTeddies, hand-made mahogany fans, Moringa super supplements, caps, t-shirts, singlets and attractive souvenir gift books.
 The sad truth is that there are more people in need than the fund to care for them all. As they mostly operate close to breakeven, Solemen is still in need of more funding and contributions. No matter how much money they raise, they continually encounter more disadvantaged people who are in desperate need of intervention and care. As such, the circle never closes. However, this quest shall go on! Together, we can change more lives!

Yayasan Solemen Indonesia
Paradise Property Building 3rd floor
Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, Siligita, South Kuta
www.solemen.org
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Puspadi Bali - Helping More People with Disabilities to Reach Their Dreams

A rise in chronic illnesses and an ageing population stimulate an increasing number of people with disabilities. This triggered Nengah Latra, who founded PUSPADI Bali, to assist those unfortunate people with physical disabilities in Bali. The foundation runs Bali's wheelchair programme and manufactures artificial legs in their workshop at the Annika Linden Centre.
 With a growing demand for quality mobility aids in Bali, PUSPADI Bali is the only NGO on the island which has been providing appropriately fitted prosthetics, orthotics and wheelchairs to people with disabilities in these areas. They also follow up the actions by giving rehabilitation and skills training programmes. Once a person with physical disabilities is found, their rehabilitation unit will immediately swing into action by getting the medical treatment needed for this person and help them mobile with either a leg or a wheelchair. 
 A mobility aid gives more than a movement for this unfortunate people, so they can work, study and fully participate in their communities. PUSPADI Bali also helps a child to get into school, and for adult, they will connect them with a recruitment agency for persons with disabilities. Since established in 1999, PUSPADI Bali has helped 5,206 people with disabilities access a mobility aid, rehabilitation and skills training, so these people can become the best version of themselves. From 2013 until now, PUSPADI Bali has managed to conduct 13,830 home visits and distribute 1,831 wheelchairs. A further 1,796 quality prosthetics, orthotics and braces are made and given to those who need.
 In their workshop at the Annika Linden Centre, PUSPADI team is continually adapting and exploring new technologies. Over the past year, it has been making modular component prosthetic legs, a partnership with the U.S based non-profit organisation, A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO).
 Not only limited in giving support in their Denpasar’s home base, PUSPADI Outreach Programme team will not hesitate to travel hundreds of kilometres away just to reach out those who are physically unable to move from their rooms by bringing mobility aids directly to them. Earlier this year, the team took a mobile workshop to Lombok to assess the needs of people with disabilities, making prosthetics and orthotics on site, as well as distributing wheelchairs. They teamed up with local organisations to identify who needs support.

Lives Transformed Through the Support of PUSPADI Bali
 Ni Nengah Widiasih
Recently won a gold medal for Indonesia at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships in Berck sur-Mer in France, this Balinese Powerlifter grew up in an extreme poverty in Karangasem and experienced polio which affected her walking ability. PUSPADI Bali team found her when she was 12 and provided braces immediately, as well as facilitating her access to go to school.
 As a teenager, Widiasih discovered her passion for weightlifting and pursued it ever since by winning multiple medals along the way, including bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. She now has her sights set on qualifying to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Throughout her journey, the PUSPADI Bali team has continually provided Widiasih with mobility aids and rehabilitation, so she can keep on reaching new heights. Widiasih is a shining example of how the provision of quality mobility aids and support can pave a person’s path to success.
 Ni Kadek Namiani Tiara Putri  The 18-year old, Ni Kadek Namiani Tiara Putri, was born with a disability and is standing on the brink of change. Defying the odds by recently graduating from the Bali Mandara School, she is now keen to take on the opportunities before her. Growing up in poverty in Badung region, Namiani’s options were limited. To the outside world, she was a young girl without a lower right leg living on an island where stigmas about disability and karma run deep. Not to mention discrimination is also entrenched. Namiani showed immense academic potential from a young age. After finishing high school, she plans to do an English major at the Sampoerna University in Jakarta and plans to return to Bali to build a school for children with disabilities.
Namiani’s destiny in life changed from the time she received her first prosthetic leg from PUSPADI Bali. This opportunity brought a renewed hope for her future. The prosthetic legs and rehabilitation that the team have provided her since she was a young child enabled her to go to school and realise her full potential.

By visiting http://www.puspadibali.org/donate, we can support the work of PUSPADI Bali so people with disabilities in remote areas of Bali can reach their full potential.

PUSPADI Bali
Annika Linden Centre
Jalan Bakung #19, Tohpati, Kesiman, Kertalangu, East Denpasar
+ 62 361 464537
www.puspadibali.org
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Puspadi Bali - Helping More People with Disabilities to Reach Their Dreams

A rise in chronic illnesses and an ageing population stimulate an increasing number of people with disabilities. This triggered Nengah Latra, who founded PUSPADI Bali, to assist those unfortunate people with physical disabilities in Bali. The foundation runs Bali's wheelchair programme and manufactures artificial legs in their workshop at the Annika Linden Centre.
 With a growing demand for quality mobility aids in Bali, PUSPADI Bali is the only NGO on the island which has been providing appropriately fitted prosthetics, orthotics and wheelchairs to people with disabilities in these areas. They also follow up the actions by giving rehabilitation and skills training programmes. Once a person with physical disabilities is found, their rehabilitation unit will immediately swing into action by getting the medical treatment needed for this person and help them mobile with either a leg or a wheelchair. 
 A mobility aid gives more than a movement for this unfortunate people, so they can work, study and fully participate in their communities. PUSPADI Bali also helps a child to get into school, and for adult, they will connect them with a recruitment agency for persons with disabilities. Since established in 1999, PUSPADI Bali has helped 5,206 people with disabilities access a mobility aid, rehabilitation and skills training, so these people can become the best version of themselves. From 2013 until now, PUSPADI Bali has managed to conduct 13,830 home visits and distribute 1,831 wheelchairs. A further 1,796 quality prosthetics, orthotics and braces are made and given to those who need.
 In their workshop at the Annika Linden Centre, PUSPADI team is continually adapting and exploring new technologies. Over the past year, it has been making modular component prosthetic legs, a partnership with the U.S based non-profit organisation, A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO).
 Not only limited in giving support in their Denpasar’s home base, PUSPADI Outreach Programme team will not hesitate to travel hundreds of kilometres away just to reach out those who are physically unable to move from their rooms by bringing mobility aids directly to them. Earlier this year, the team took a mobile workshop to Lombok to assess the needs of people with disabilities, making prosthetics and orthotics on site, as well as distributing wheelchairs. They teamed up with local organisations to identify who needs support.

Lives Transformed Through the Support of PUSPADI Bali
 Ni Nengah Widiasih
Recently won a gold medal for Indonesia at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships in Berck sur-Mer in France, this Balinese Powerlifter grew up in an extreme poverty in Karangasem and experienced polio which affected her walking ability. PUSPADI Bali team found her when she was 12 and provided braces immediately, as well as facilitating her access to go to school.
 As a teenager, Widiasih discovered her passion for weightlifting and pursued it ever since by winning multiple medals along the way, including bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. She now has her sights set on qualifying to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Throughout her journey, the PUSPADI Bali team has continually provided Widiasih with mobility aids and rehabilitation, so she can keep on reaching new heights. Widiasih is a shining example of how the provision of quality mobility aids and support can pave a person’s path to success.
 Ni Kadek Namiani Tiara Putri  The 18-year old, Ni Kadek Namiani Tiara Putri, was born with a disability and is standing on the brink of change. Defying the odds by recently graduating from the Bali Mandara School, she is now keen to take on the opportunities before her. Growing up in poverty in Badung region, Namiani’s options were limited. To the outside world, she was a young girl without a lower right leg living on an island where stigmas about disability and karma run deep. Not to mention discrimination is also entrenched. Namiani showed immense academic potential from a young age. After finishing high school, she plans to do an English major at the Sampoerna University in Jakarta and plans to return to Bali to build a school for children with disabilities.
Namiani’s destiny in life changed from the time she received her first prosthetic leg from PUSPADI Bali. This opportunity brought a renewed hope for her future. The prosthetic legs and rehabilitation that the team have provided her since she was a young child enabled her to go to school and realise her full potential.

By visiting http://www.puspadibali.org/donate, we can support the work of PUSPADI Bali so people with disabilities in remote areas of Bali can reach their full potential.

PUSPADI Bali
Annika Linden Centre
Jalan Bakung #19, Tohpati, Kesiman, Kertalangu, East Denpasar
+ 62 361 464537
www.puspadibali.org
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Eco Bali - Solution to Bali’s Waste Crisis

Bali has now become the world's second-biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans. This island is facing the alarming issue of waste disposal with shorelines laden with refuse, which is washed up every day when the tides come in. Communities are struggling to deal with the volume of waste, and even high-end hotels now pay staff to dig holes in the beaches where they tip in the mounds of plastic. The tourist island’s main rubbish dump now covers 30 hectares, reaches 20 metres high in places and every day 600 trucks bring another 1544 tonnes to add to the pile. Staggering 175,000 tons of waste is produced each day, amounting to 64 million tons per year, according to data from the ministry. 
Eco Bali was established in 2006 in response to the urgency of waste management problems in Bali. It is a registered operation and they comply with the current national legislation on waste management under the Ministry of Environment. Their vision is to enable everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle. The mission is to promote the responsible waste management, create green knowledge and eco products towards achieving zero waste. All this is managed by a highly efficient team including professionals experienced in waste management, educational programmes, product design and marketing. Eco Bali operates their own sorting and material recovery facility (MRF) ensuring that your waste is properly managed and does not impose a threat to Bali’s beautiful environment. The goal is mainly to maximize recycling, reduce the quantity of waste to landfill and promote composting. 
Eco Bali also provides a range of useful services. Waste Management is one of the primary ones, where they help you to take care of your household, villa, office, business, restaurant, hotel, community or school waste responsibly. Separation at source is key for recycling. They provide a two-bin system. Green Bin for paper; Red Bin for glass, metal, plastic and other non-organic waste. This programme also ensures effective staff training and the disposal of the remaining residue is in legal facilities. Eco Bali strongly believes that education is the key, and management sustainable living can be accomplished by creating knowledge and awareness about waste as well as its response. 
To support everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle, they offer different eco-educational approaches for schools, businesses and communities. The other program they offer is consulting, where they identify eco and cost-effective solutions for your company or organisation, and helping businesses to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In case you represent a business or organisation which is committed to working towards zero waste, you can take benefits of these partnership programmes with Eco Bali. They have a large number of tailored programmes in the field of waste management. 
In terms of products, Eco Store allows you to shop for various environment friendly products that support your zero-waste lifestyle. They offer stylish Upcycled Drinking glasses from bottles collected. This original Glass Plates, Bowls and Vases will look good in your home, restaurant or café. For fashion, they have the airy bag of Net Bag Set for your wet swimwear and Ini Bags for shopping goods.
 They also provide an easy composting system with complete installation suitable for households and business, including all materials required to begin composting. Eco Bali will take care of the complete installation and train all of the staff or householders. The unique layering process of their composting system is easy, with no smell and great results. Using this composting system provides you with beautiful compost for your garden or flower pots all year round. 
All the services and products offered by Eco Bali are priced extremely reasonable to encourage people towards an eco-friendly living. Eco Bali reaffirms the idea that the majority of our waste is all recyclable. Now it’s all a matter of further harnessing that world-sustaining habit of recycling into our daily life.
 Jalan Raya Padonan, North Kuta
+62 822 3779 9819
www.eco-bali.com
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Eco Bali - Solution to Bali’s Waste Crisis

Bali has now become the world's second-biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans. This island is facing the alarming issue of waste disposal with shorelines laden with refuse, which is washed up every day when the tides come in. Communities are struggling to deal with the volume of waste, and even high-end hotels now pay staff to dig holes in the beaches where they tip in the mounds of plastic. The tourist island’s main rubbish dump now covers 30 hectares, reaches 20 metres high in places and every day 600 trucks bring another 1544 tonnes to add to the pile. Staggering 175,000 tons of waste is produced each day, amounting to 64 million tons per year, according to data from the ministry. 
Eco Bali was established in 2006 in response to the urgency of waste management problems in Bali. It is a registered operation and they comply with the current national legislation on waste management under the Ministry of Environment. Their vision is to enable everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle. The mission is to promote the responsible waste management, create green knowledge and eco products towards achieving zero waste. All this is managed by a highly efficient team including professionals experienced in waste management, educational programmes, product design and marketing. Eco Bali operates their own sorting and material recovery facility (MRF) ensuring that your waste is properly managed and does not impose a threat to Bali’s beautiful environment. The goal is mainly to maximize recycling, reduce the quantity of waste to landfill and promote composting. 
Eco Bali also provides a range of useful services. Waste Management is one of the primary ones, where they help you to take care of your household, villa, office, business, restaurant, hotel, community or school waste responsibly. Separation at source is key for recycling. They provide a two-bin system. Green Bin for paper; Red Bin for glass, metal, plastic and other non-organic waste. This programme also ensures effective staff training and the disposal of the remaining residue is in legal facilities. Eco Bali strongly believes that education is the key, and management sustainable living can be accomplished by creating knowledge and awareness about waste as well as its response. 
To support everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle, they offer different eco-educational approaches for schools, businesses and communities. The other program they offer is consulting, where they identify eco and cost-effective solutions for your company or organisation, and helping businesses to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In case you represent a business or organisation which is committed to working towards zero waste, you can take benefits of these partnership programmes with Eco Bali. They have a large number of tailored programmes in the field of waste management. 
In terms of products, Eco Store allows you to shop for various environment friendly products that support your zero-waste lifestyle. They offer stylish Upcycled Drinking glasses from bottles collected. This original Glass Plates, Bowls and Vases will look good in your home, restaurant or café. For fashion, they have the airy bag of Net Bag Set for your wet swimwear and Ini Bags for shopping goods.
 They also provide an easy composting system with complete installation suitable for households and business, including all materials required to begin composting. Eco Bali will take care of the complete installation and train all of the staff or householders. The unique layering process of their composting system is easy, with no smell and great results. Using this composting system provides you with beautiful compost for your garden or flower pots all year round. 
All the services and products offered by Eco Bali are priced extremely reasonable to encourage people towards an eco-friendly living. Eco Bali reaffirms the idea that the majority of our waste is all recyclable. Now it’s all a matter of further harnessing that world-sustaining habit of recycling into our daily life.
 Jalan Raya Padonan, North Kuta
+62 822 3779 9819
www.eco-bali.com
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Solution to Bali’s Waste Crisis

Bali has now become the world's second-biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans. This island is facing the alarming issue of waste disposal with shorelines laden with refuse, which is washed up every day when the tides come in. Communities are struggling to deal with the volume of waste, and even high-end hotels now pay staff to dig holes in the beaches where they tip in the mounds of plastic. The tourist island’s main rubbish dump now covers 30 hectares, reaches 20 metres high in places and every day 600 trucks bring another 1544 tonnes to add to the pile. Staggering 175,000 tons of waste is produced each day, amounting to 64 million tons per year, according to data from the ministry.
 Eco Bali was established in 2006 in response to the urgency of waste management problems in Bali. It is a registered operation and they comply with the current national legislation on waste management under the Ministry of Environment. Their vision is to enable everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle. The mission is to promote the responsible waste management, create green knowledge and eco products towards achieving zero waste. All this is managed by a highly efficient team including professionals experienced in waste management, educational programmes, product design and marketing. Eco Bali operates their own sorting and material recovery facility (MRF) ensuring that your waste is properly managed and does not impose a threat to Bali’s beautiful environment. The goal is mainly to maximize recycling, reduce the quantity of waste to landfill and promote composting.
 Eco Bali also provides a range of useful services. Waste Management is one of the primary ones, where they help you to take care of your household, villa, office, business, restaurant, hotel, community or school waste responsibly. Separation at source is key for recycling. They provide a two-bin system. Green Bin for paper; Red Bin for glass, metal, plastic and other non-organic waste. This programme also ensures effective staff training and the disposal of the remaining residue is in legal facilities. Eco Bali strongly believes that education is the key, and management sustainable living can be accomplished by creating knowledge and awareness about waste as well as its response.  To support everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle, they offer different eco-educational approaches for schools, businesses and communities. The other program they offer is consulting, where they identify eco and cost-effective solutions for your company or organisation, and helping businesses to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In case you represent a business or organisation which is committed to working towards zero waste, you can take benefits of these partnership programmes with Eco Bali. They have a large number of tailored programmes in the field of waste management.
 In terms of products, Eco Store allows you to shop for various environment friendly products that support your zero-waste lifestyle. They offer stylish Upcycled Drinking glasses from bottles collected. This original Glass Plates, Bowls and Vases will look good in your home, restaurant or café. For fashion, they have the airy bag of Net Bag Set for your wet swimwear and Ini Bags for shopping goods.
 They also provide an easy composting system with complete installation suitable for households and business, including all materials required to begin composting. Eco Bali will take care of the complete installation and train all of the staff or householders. The unique layering process of their composting system is easy, with no smell and great results. Using this composting system provides you with beautiful compost for your garden or flower pots all year round.  All the services and products offered by Eco Bali are priced extremely reasonable to encourage people towards an eco-friendly living. Eco Bali reaffirms the idea that the majority of our waste is all recyclable. Now it’s all a matter of further harnessing that world-sustaining habit of recycling into our daily life.
Jalan Raya Padonan, North Kuta
+62 822 3779 9819
www.eco-bali.com
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Solution to Bali’s Waste Crisis

Bali has now become the world's second-biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans. This island is facing the alarming issue of waste disposal with shorelines laden with refuse, which is washed up every day when the tides come in. Communities are struggling to deal with the volume of waste, and even high-end hotels now pay staff to dig holes in the beaches where they tip in the mounds of plastic. The tourist island’s main rubbish dump now covers 30 hectares, reaches 20 metres high in places and every day 600 trucks bring another 1544 tonnes to add to the pile. Staggering 175,000 tons of waste is produced each day, amounting to 64 million tons per year, according to data from the ministry.
 Eco Bali was established in 2006 in response to the urgency of waste management problems in Bali. It is a registered operation and they comply with the current national legislation on waste management under the Ministry of Environment. Their vision is to enable everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle. The mission is to promote the responsible waste management, create green knowledge and eco products towards achieving zero waste. All this is managed by a highly efficient team including professionals experienced in waste management, educational programmes, product design and marketing. Eco Bali operates their own sorting and material recovery facility (MRF) ensuring that your waste is properly managed and does not impose a threat to Bali’s beautiful environment. The goal is mainly to maximize recycling, reduce the quantity of waste to landfill and promote composting.
 Eco Bali also provides a range of useful services. Waste Management is one of the primary ones, where they help you to take care of your household, villa, office, business, restaurant, hotel, community or school waste responsibly. Separation at source is key for recycling. They provide a two-bin system. Green Bin for paper; Red Bin for glass, metal, plastic and other non-organic waste. This programme also ensures effective staff training and the disposal of the remaining residue is in legal facilities. Eco Bali strongly believes that education is the key, and management sustainable living can be accomplished by creating knowledge and awareness about waste as well as its response.  To support everyone towards a zero-waste lifestyle, they offer different eco-educational approaches for schools, businesses and communities. The other program they offer is consulting, where they identify eco and cost-effective solutions for your company or organisation, and helping businesses to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In case you represent a business or organisation which is committed to working towards zero waste, you can take benefits of these partnership programmes with Eco Bali. They have a large number of tailored programmes in the field of waste management.
 In terms of products, Eco Store allows you to shop for various environment friendly products that support your zero-waste lifestyle. They offer stylish Upcycled Drinking glasses from bottles collected. This original Glass Plates, Bowls and Vases will look good in your home, restaurant or café. For fashion, they have the airy bag of Net Bag Set for your wet swimwear and Ini Bags for shopping goods.
 They also provide an easy composting system with complete installation suitable for households and business, including all materials required to begin composting. Eco Bali will take care of the complete installation and train all of the staff or householders. The unique layering process of their composting system is easy, with no smell and great results. Using this composting system provides you with beautiful compost for your garden or flower pots all year round.  All the services and products offered by Eco Bali are priced extremely reasonable to encourage people towards an eco-friendly living. Eco Bali reaffirms the idea that the majority of our waste is all recyclable. Now it’s all a matter of further harnessing that world-sustaining habit of recycling into our daily life.
Jalan Raya Padonan, North Kuta
+62 822 3779 9819
www.eco-bali.com
This article is also published at NOW! BALI Magazine

Start Making a Difference Without Plastic Bags - Bye Bye Plastic Bags

It is not a rocket science to see that this island is drowning in plastic, and there is no escaping from such reality. Who is going to do something about it? Sometimes we forget that it only takes one person to start the change. Instead of pointing fingers, asking people to change the world, why not look at ourselves and start from there. 
Bye Bye Plastic Bags (BBPB) is one of the examples. This is a social initiative driven by youth to get the people of Bali to say no to plastic bags. This organisation was started by two young sisters when they were 10 and 12 years old after being inspired by a lesson in a class about changemakers. They decided not to wait until they were older to start making a difference on this island. 
Five years forward to today, BBPB has now become a youth-driven NGO with the aim of making Bali plastic bag free. Starting from an idea on the couch, it is now a movement of 30 students in Bali, 20 cities across the world, and millions of viewers watching whether or not Bali is really going plastic bag free this year. For the last few years, the campaign has been working towards the big year of 2018. The team of youth have been able to meet with many key people, including Mangku Pastika as the current Governor of Bali and some national ministers. They have held meetings with nearly every governmental department and all of Bali’s nine head of regions to prove that their idea is legally possible to be done, economically more beneficial and practical for everyone living on this island. 
The team of youth at BBPB are kept busy on a daily basis. Most of their activities take place on the weekends, such as beach clean-ups, plastic bag exchange and alternative bag making workshops. However, they believe that real change happens in the classroom. Thus, they approached around 18,000 students and created two educational booklets in the local language for elementary school students, which are being distributed on a mass scale.
Communication with the local communities is the key element. In order to change public mindset, BBPB works closely with local villages in some projects. These include to build River Boom school programmes and establish a social enterprise ‘Mountain Mama’s’ to empower women to produce alternative bags from donated materials to their weekly distribution of bags to local shops in the area. This action ensures that they are involving the local communities and convince local shopkeepers to stop giving plastic bags for free or to simply start using alternatives.
As a grassroot organisation that is youth-led, they have always understood the importance of working together with all levels of society. This includes the government. To keep reminding the government that change still needs to happen and that they are not going anywhere until it does, BBPB setups weekly meetings with the regional departments to the national scope. It is not an easy task and requires a long process. They are definitely aware of the emergency and need to change. However, it is not a matter of how, but more a question of who. Be it local, regional or national government, the question remains the same, “Are they ready to make the change, or they prefer to leave it up to the grassroots organisations to do the job?” 40 other countries around the world have implemented a final stage of ‘saying no to plastic bags’, and the people and businesses of Bali are ready to do so. 
Today, BBPB can be found across 20 cities around the world, driven by young kids in middle school, high school and universities. They have literally embodied the message that kids can also do big things, and BBPB is the living example.
Their newest action comes in the form of a ‘Komitmen’. Through this, they invite individuals, organisations, companies and government offices in Bali to eliminate the use of the most pervasive plastics in our environment and to promote waste separation at the source in order to promote better recycling and waste management. If you are interested to join this cause, simply write an email to komitmen@oneislandonevoice.org. BBPB is planning to have a thousand Bali-based businesses on board with the ‘Komitmen’ by the end of September, and they will use it as a pressure for the government to take the action. The government will finally realise that industries are moving away from plastic, with or without them.
www.byebyeplasticbags.org
This article is also published at NOW! Bali Magazine

Start Making a Difference Without Plastic Bags - Bye Bye Plastic Bags

It is not a rocket science to see that this island is drowning in plastic, and there is no escaping from such reality. Who is going to do something about it? Sometimes we forget that it only takes one person to start the change. Instead of pointing fingers, asking people to change the world, why not look at ourselves and start from there. 
Bye Bye Plastic Bags (BBPB) is one of the examples. This is a social initiative driven by youth to get the people of Bali to say no to plastic bags. This organisation was started by two young sisters when they were 10 and 12 years old after being inspired by a lesson in a class about changemakers. They decided not to wait until they were older to start making a difference on this island. 
Five years forward to today, BBPB has now become a youth-driven NGO with the aim of making Bali plastic bag free. Starting from an idea on the couch, it is now a movement of 30 students in Bali, 20 cities across the world, and millions of viewers watching whether or not Bali is really going plastic bag free this year. For the last few years, the campaign has been working towards the big year of 2018. The team of youth have been able to meet with many key people, including Mangku Pastika as the current Governor of Bali and some national ministers. They have held meetings with nearly every governmental department and all of Bali’s nine head of regions to prove that their idea is legally possible to be done, economically more beneficial and practical for everyone living on this island. 
The team of youth at BBPB are kept busy on a daily basis. Most of their activities take place on the weekends, such as beach clean-ups, plastic bag exchange and alternative bag making workshops. However, they believe that real change happens in the classroom. Thus, they approached around 18,000 students and created two educational booklets in the local language for elementary school students, which are being distributed on a mass scale.
Communication with the local communities is the key element. In order to change public mindset, BBPB works closely with local villages in some projects. These include to build River Boom school programmes and establish a social enterprise ‘Mountain Mama’s’ to empower women to produce alternative bags from donated materials to their weekly distribution of bags to local shops in the area. This action ensures that they are involving the local communities and convince local shopkeepers to stop giving plastic bags for free or to simply start using alternatives.
As a grassroot organisation that is youth-led, they have always understood the importance of working together with all levels of society. This includes the government. To keep reminding the government that change still needs to happen and that they are not going anywhere until it does, BBPB setups weekly meetings with the regional departments to the national scope. It is not an easy task and requires a long process. They are definitely aware of the emergency and need to change. However, it is not a matter of how, but more a question of who. Be it local, regional or national government, the question remains the same, “Are they ready to make the change, or they prefer to leave it up to the grassroots organisations to do the job?” 40 other countries around the world have implemented a final stage of ‘saying no to plastic bags’, and the people and businesses of Bali are ready to do so. 
Today, BBPB can be found across 20 cities around the world, driven by young kids in middle school, high school and universities. They have literally embodied the message that kids can also do big things, and BBPB is the living example.
Their newest action comes in the form of a ‘Komitmen’. Through this, they invite individuals, organisations, companies and government offices in Bali to eliminate the use of the most pervasive plastics in our environment and to promote waste separation at the source in order to promote better recycling and waste management. If you are interested to join this cause, simply write an email to komitmen@oneislandonevoice.org. BBPB is planning to have a thousand Bali-based businesses on board with the ‘Komitmen’ by the end of September, and they will use it as a pressure for the government to take the action. The government will finally realise that industries are moving away from plastic, with or without them.
www.byebyeplasticbags.org
This article is also published at NOW! Bali Magazine