Volunteers Clean Up Bali's Beach from 'Worst' Monsoon-driven Trash

Plastic waste and other garbage is cleared from a beach in Kedonganan Badung regency on Indonesia's Bali island. SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP
Plastic waste and other garbage is cleared from a beach in Kedonganan Badung regency on Indonesia's Bali island. SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP
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Volunteers Clean Up Bali's Beach from 'Worst' Monsoon-driven Trash

Plastic waste and other garbage is cleared from a beach in Kedonganan Badung regency on Indonesia's Bali island. SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP
Plastic waste and other garbage is cleared from a beach in Kedonganan Badung regency on Indonesia's Bali island. SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP

Hundreds of volunteers joined a cleanup in Bali, Indonesia, Saturday as monsoon rains brought what an activist described as "the worst" waves of plastic waste to hit its tourist-favored beaches.
The Southeast Asian nation is one of the world's biggest contributors of plastic pollution and marine debris, with annual monsoon rains and winds sweeping mountains of plastic waste from its cities and rivers into the ocean.
Some of it drifts hundreds of kilometers before washing up on the beaches on the holiday island -- especially between November and March, AFP said.
Across Kedonganan beach in the south of the island, plastic cups, straws, cutlery, and empty coffee sachets were scattered across the sand, mixed with plant and wood debris.
Tons of garbage
Around 600 volunteers, including local residents, hospitality workers, and tourists, braved a rainy morning to pick up the waste by hand before filling hundreds of large sacks.
The Environmental NGO Sungai Watch called it "the worst" plastic waste pollution to wash ashore in Bali.
"We have never seen plastics a meter thick in the sand. In just six days of cleanup, we collected 25 tons, which is a record for us," said Sungai Watch founder Gary Bencheghib.
Bencheghib said an audit found most of the plastic waste came from cities on neighboring Java, Indonesia's most-populated island.

Tatiana Komelova, a Russian tourist volunteer, said the sight of the pollution shocked her, and motivated her to reduce the use of plastic in her daily life.

"I knew the problem existed, but I didn't know it was this bad," she said.

"I use plastic products a lot in my life, and now I try to reduce it as much as possible."



Japan Launches Climate Change Monitoring Satellite

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H2A rocket is seen at the lauch pad before its 50th and final launch at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, 28 June 2025. EPA/JIJI PRE/JIJI PRESS
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H2A rocket is seen at the lauch pad before its 50th and final launch at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, 28 June 2025. EPA/JIJI PRE/JIJI PRESS
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Japan Launches Climate Change Monitoring Satellite

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H2A rocket is seen at the lauch pad before its 50th and final launch at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, 28 June 2025. EPA/JIJI PRE/JIJI PRESS
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H2A rocket is seen at the lauch pad before its 50th and final launch at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, 28 June 2025. EPA/JIJI PRE/JIJI PRESS

Japan on Sunday launched a satellite monitoring greenhouse gas emissions using its longtime mainstay H-2A rocket, which made its final flight before it is replaced by a new flagship designed to be more cost competitive in the global space market.

The H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, carrying the GOSAT-GW satellite as part of Tokyo’s effort to mitigate climate change.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which operates the rocket launch, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will hold a news conference later Sunday to give further details of the flight.

Sunday's launch marked the 50th and final flight for the H-2A, which has served as Japan’s mainstay rocket to carry satellites and probes into space with near-perfect record since its 2001 debut. After its retirement, it will be fully replaced by the H3, which is already in operation, as Japan's new main flagship, The Associated Press reported.

The launch follows several days of delay due to malfunctioning in the rocket’s electrical systems.

The GOSAT-GW, or Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle, is a third series in the mission to monitor carbon, methane and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

Japan sees a stable, commercially competitive space transport capability as key to its space program and national security, and has been developing two new flagship rockets as successors of the H-2A series — the larger H3 with Mitsubishi, and a much smaller Epsilon system with the aerospace unit of the heavy machinery maker IHI. It hopes to cater to diverse customer needs and improve its position in the growing satellite launch market.