Amid unruly tourists in Bali. This figure works hard so that Bali’s beauty is maintained. One of them is Gary Bencheghib, who initiated the Sungai Watch movement. Gary and Sungai Watch volunteers dive into rivers in Java and Bali daily to clean up plastic waste.
“In two-and-a-half years, the volume of waste collected was more than one million kilogrammes. But if we want to create an Indonesia that is truly clean from trash, of course we need thousands (garbage barriers),” said the son of the couple, Malik and Catherine Benchegib.
Gary pinned the name Sungai Watch so that the community would watch over the river. “So that people will no longer throw garbage into the river,” said the 28-year-old man.
Gary Bencheghib threw himself into a river filled with plastic waste in Denpasar’s Sanur area. The murky black river was filled with tonnes of trash; a stench wafted from the river. The smell almost made Gary’s friend vomit.
Gery and Sungai Watch volunteers are used to getting into the water when cleaning the river. This man of French blood started the Sungai Watch community in 2020 because he was disturbed by the garbage problem in Bali.
View this post on Instagram
Sungai Watch was formed from the experiences of Gary and his younger brother, Sam Bencheghib. The brothers made a boat out of used bottled waste in 2017. The boat was used to sail the Citarum River, West Java, and clean up trash along the dirtiest river in the world.
The experience during the two weeks made an impression on Gary. “We couldn’t help but cry at that time,” said the 28-year-old man.
“Bali is now like a plastic island. Every rainy season, we encounter a lot of plastic waste in various places. Especially in tourist areas such as Kuta Beach and Sanur,” added the man, who has lived in Bali for 20 years.
Gary and the Sungai Watch team use the trash barrier method to clean the river. Hundreds of trash nets have been installed in various rivers in Java and Bali.
Interested in this topic? Check out our other articles from Social Expat:
