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."



Facing Egg Shortage, Americans Bring Chickens Home to Roost

Hens for sale roam in their cage at Wabash Feed & Garden store in Houston, Texas, on February 10, 2025. AFP
Hens for sale roam in their cage at Wabash Feed & Garden store in Houston, Texas, on February 10, 2025. AFP
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Facing Egg Shortage, Americans Bring Chickens Home to Roost

Hens for sale roam in their cage at Wabash Feed & Garden store in Houston, Texas, on February 10, 2025. AFP
Hens for sale roam in their cage at Wabash Feed & Garden store in Houston, Texas, on February 10, 2025. AFP

A Houston poultry supply company is selling chickens like there is no tomorrow, as sky-high prices for eggs prompt some Americans to produce their own at home.

A recent US outbreak of bird flu since early 2024 is exacting a heavy toll on poultry farms. More than 21 million egg-laying hens have been "depopulated" this year so far, after 13.2 million were culled in December, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Eggs, as a result, are a precious commodity these days.

John Berry, who manages a livestock company in Houston, reported a dramatic increase in demand for chickens as consumers grapple with the egg shortage.

"Our sales for poultry have doubled or maybe potentially tripled. I mean we're selling 100 chickens a week or more," Berry told AFP.

In times of egg abundance it would take two or three weeks to sell that many birds, he said.

A dozen premium eggs can now cost an eye-popping $10 in some US supermarkets, with even lower-grade ones now drawing twice their usual price of what is normally between two and three dollars.

The popular grocery store chain Trader Joe's is limiting purchases to one dozen eggs of any kind per household per day, and Costco is also limiting purchases.

Waffle House restaurants have slapped a 50-cent surcharge on each egg in a dish to compensate for higher costs.

Last week in Seattle, a restaurant was robbed of 500 eggs from its storeroom in the middle of the night.

- ' I have a large family' -

Berry said most of his chicken buyers are new to the world of egg production.

Such is the case of Arturo Becerra, who recently bought 10 hens for $400, with another $20 for a month's worth of feed.

On Monday, he bought five more hens, and plans to get another 10, "because I have a large family." His hens are still young and need a few more weeks to start laying eggs.

Some cities and towns in Texas allow people to raise chickens at home if they follow certain health norms.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say the risk to the general public from avian flu remains "low," but has released safety guidelines for owners of backyard bird flocks.

The CDC also says that "people with job-related or recreational exposures to birds or other H5 virus-infected animals, are at greater risk of infection."

That has not appeared to deter Becerra.

"Now I have some place to put them, and besides, eggs are very expensive," said Becerra, a 57-year-old man who was born in Mexico. "I think it will be cheaper to buy hens and raise them."

Billy Underhill, the 62-year-old owner of a construction company and longtime chicken raiser, has bought two more of the clucking creatures.

"I just heard someone yesterday say that eggs were, like, 10 dollars a dozen," he said.

"I was already planning on buying a couple more chickens. I buy a couple every couple months because some of them die. Eventually they die and they stop laying so I'm going to keep the flow of eggs going in my family," he said.

Berry said there are no chickens to replace the millions that had to be killed because of avian influenza.

"You have to have had anticipated this and raised a thousand extra chickens or a million extra chickens," said Berry.

In the United States, the disease is affecting not just poultry farms but also dairy cows.

There have been 68 cases among people since early last year, with one of them fatal. Most of them were among people coming into contact with infected animals, according to the CDC.

The man who died was infected "after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds," health authorities said.

Berry said there is a generation of chickens growing and waiting to replace the ones who were destroyed. But it will take time, and as eggs store well, he recommends that people stock up.

"It'll be a couple of months, I would guess at the soonest. Seems like it's two or three months or more before things kind of get right."