By signing petition, citizens supported a ban on plastic bags. 77,000+ signatures were collected online and additional 10,000 signatures were collected through in-person campaigning at the Bali airport

Launching the pilot village in Pererenan, Bali, involved (1) meetings with local government to get approval and support in making village a pilot, (2) delivering education presentations in schools, (3) creation of an educational booklet about the harms of plastic and what we can do to be apart of the solution, and (4) distributing alternative bags to shops to be distributed to customers each weekend.

The MOU was signed by Mangku Pastika and BBPB agreed to make the people of Bali say NO to plastic bags through education programmes and introduction of alternatives.

Version 1 of their educational booklet was 25-page booklet was created for primary aged students in Indonesia to learn about the harms of plastic. The book was printed in color and distributed among 30 schools across Indonesia + shared freely in PDF form as a download

Campaign to highlight those shops, restaurants, hotels, etc that are plastic bag free by putting a sticker to indicate that it is part of the “One Island One Voice – Plastic Bag Free Zone” . We use the name and shame technique, and everyone that carries the sticker will get a shout out on all of our social media platforms.

The Bali Province, announced their commitment to make Bali plastic free by 2018 in a circular letter shared throughout bali province Surat Edaran No.660/1984/Sekret/BLH

27 cities across Indonesia started charging for plastic bags as a trial for 3-months. These were the guidelines given.

‘Guidelines’ about charge on plastic bags

Banjarmasin started charging for plastic bags in feb 2016 and continued past the trial with a full ban on plastic bags that is still in place today. Read up on the Banjarmasin Regulation that banned plastic bags

‘One Island One Voice’ become a collective of NGOs, local businesses, and individuals, standing up together to raise awareness about Bali’s waste issue and highlight the need to take bold action toward solving the problem. An estimated 12,000 people collected 40 tons of garbage across 55 locations around the island.

In preparation for attending the UN World Ocean Conference in New York, Melati and Isabel requested a meeting with all Bupatis and BLH in Bali to hear update about what actions the local government had taken towards the goal of making Bali plastic bag free by 2018 – as was committed to in the 2015 Surat Edaran signed by Mangku Pastika.

During this time, BBPB started working with Sarah Waddell, an environmental lawyer from Australia, who has been working in Indonesia for x years.

Hosted by BBPB, attendees included representatives from the Bupati offices + BLH offices + a few stakeholders from local NGOS or local business. The purpose of meeting was to hear update from local govt and discuss how we can further contribute to the action they had been taking towards making Bali plastic bag free. As a result of this meeting, a Surat Dukungan was drafted and signed by all Bupatis and BLHs in Bali agreeing that, ‘plastic costs more to the economy and society then it provides’. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for August 2017 to further discuss how to place a charge on plastic bags.

Surat Dukungan w/ signatures (INDO)

Letter of Intention (ENG)

A follow-up meeting was hosted by BBPB inviting the same crowd from the May meeting (Bali Bupati, BLH + stakeholders). Mostly BLH or reps from each region attended. BBPB presented a suggested action plan for placing a charge on plastic bags, which would start 1 Jan 2018. This was presented alongside the legal findings showing that Bali regional govt does have the autonomy to implement a charge on plastic bags. The documents below were presented by BBPB.

BBPB Rencana Tindakan Yang Diusulkan – 9 Agustus 2017 (INDO)

BBPB Proposed Action Plan – 9 Aug 2017 (ENG)

Aspek Hukum Biaya Pada Kantong Plastik (INDO)

Legal Aspects to the Proposed Charge on Plastic Bags (ENG)

RESULT: Head of BLH and all that attended were supportive of this bold action but how to be successful in this was still in question (as expected). Pak Surajana, head of BLH suggested that by the next meeting in sept, each head of region return to present their action plan for placing a charge on plastic bags, emphasising the socialisation that would be needed to make this happen. Bupatis shall also submit a list of shops that will trial a charge on plastic bags in their region during the socialisation period between Oct – Dec.

After this meeting, discussions were had with Rahyang from Diet Kantong Plastik and Tiza, lawyer from CPI to learn more about current regulations and status of National Plan as it relates to charge on plastic. Both have confirmed that Bali has autonomy to place charge on plastic bags. Both are involved in pushing regulation for charge/ban on plastic in various cities throughout Java and Banjarmasin.

During the meeting on the 9th of Aug, Pak Suarjana suggested that BBPB meet with him personally before the 13th Sept to discuss how best to prep for this meeting. BBPB scheduled personal meeting with Pak Suarjana on 30th August.

Prior to meeting, BBPB was informed that the 30th Aug meeting had been canceled. When BBPB requested to reschedule the meeting with Pak Suarjana, a meeting on the 4th of September was scheduled with a number of other local govt officials from various offices.

A letter of invite was sent from Pak Suarjana. The meeting was called to discuss… how to control the use of plastic bags to support the clean and green bali programme …. and on the regulation of the application of paid plastic in the districts.

Invitee+Attendee List 4 Sept Govt Meeting
Meeting notes from translator (does not include notes from entire mtg)

Sarah Waddell, lawyer,  used a revised version of the document drafted in Aug to present Bali’s autonomy. REVISED Legal Aspects of Charge on Plastic Bags for 4 Sept (ENG)

Result of meeting– The govt officials in attendance said that Bali does not have the authority to put a charge on plastic bags. The local govt is waiting for the national govt to pass regulation. The attendees in the room announced they feel they have done everything they can but must wait for regulation from national government.

To highlight the journey of BBPB and share the facts collected, BBPB published a video on FB to gently put some pressure on local govt to follow through with their commitments to make bali plastic bag free by 2018. In 24 hours, the video was viewed more 25K times but shortly after this 24hr mark, FB disapproved our post as it did not comply with ‘advertising policy’. Nothing was clear as to what we were not in compliance about, but can only conclude the ad was ‘too political’.

Melati and Isabel were awarded the Our Earth Bambi Award in Berlin, along side Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The final Government and Stakeholder meeting was held to hear from each region if they would support a paying for plastic policy. Read the notes from the meeting