Organic waste tanks - a very simple solution to keep the environment clean.

For Mr.Moeliono and Supardi Asmorobangun there is one motto about the environment that stands above all others. We should try to prevent plastics and other non- organic waste from getting into our environment, rather then having to clean it up later. They are speaking from experience.

Moeliono, a business man, and Supardi a photojournalist by profession, have always enjoyed the outdoors. Where Moeliono is an enthusiastic mountain hiker and ‘hash house runner’, Supardi is, besides being an enthusiastic hiker, also a scuba diver. They witnessed the growing amount of plastic in Bali’s waterways and natural habitat first hand on their trips, and long ago made it a habit to collect garbage on their outings.

By Conincidence in 2005, Moeliano and Supardi’s paths crossed during a hiking trip on Mt Mangu (1950 metre) in Bedugul. They, together with friends, were taking a rest at the ‘Pura Pucak Mangu’. They started a conversation, and sharing the same views concerning the garbage problem on the island Supardi and Moeliano teamed up.

Moeliono’s view is that the only way we can tackle the garbage problem on Bali is by making children and young adults aware. So this became an important approach.

Over the years, their efforts going under the name of ‘Bhakti Bumi Bali’, (which is not an official organzation) addressed governments, schools and many young people in order to create awareness for their cause. They have taken a very pragmatic approach. They take SMA and university students along on their hiking trips so they can see the garbage problem with their own eyes, and immediately take action by cleaning up the rubbish they find on their way.

Collecting garbage that has already entered our waterways and natural habitats is much more complicated than it might sound. Plastic gets scattered around sawahs, trees, and riverbanks, and underwater plastic gets inter twined into coral reefs and weeds, stuck under stones, and buried in the sand. Both men recall cleaning up the mangrove forests in South Bali, probably the worst of all places to clean, since plastic has grown into the trees’ roots and branches, half disappeared into the mud, and currents make it difficult to make your way around.

Besides their ongoing cleanup initiatives, their focus is on finding solutions to keep the plastic out of our natural habitat in the first place. One way is to provide households, schools and small restaurants with a so called ‘organic waste tank’.

Supardi explains. ”The problems starts when people go to the market and come home with their vegetables and chicken in a plastic bag. They clean the vegetables and the chicken; put the leftovers back into the plastic bag and the bag with its contents gets thrown out. From this moment onwards it becomes complicated to separate the plastic from the organic material. It is important the organic material is kept separated from the plastic but people don’t know what to do with their organic waste. It has become a habit to put organic waste into a plastic bag before trashing it. The organic waste tank however is a cheap and simple way to turn organic waste into compost. The whole idea is to combine the humidity and the steady warm temperature that we have in Bali, and let these factors do the work.”

All we need is a closed, empty oil drum with a small tap at the bottom. The organic materials are thrown in from the top and will pretty quickly dissolve into a liquid that can be used as a fertilizer. The materials should be naturally wet, like leaves and fruit and vegetable peels. Garden material can go in as long as it it freshly cut, thus ‘wet’. The plastic bags people use to carry their shopping can easily be reused again and again if we keep them clean. Or even better, do not use plastic bags at all.

In the South where Supardi and Moeliono have been actively working on promoting their ‘organic waste tanks’ their first focus is on getting tanks into as many schools as possible. This way the school areas will stay clean, and the children learn to separate their garbage. Even better, children will experience how organic waste materials will dissolve into a natural fertilizer that can be used for the garden.

We can make an organic waste tank out of an old oil drum for around Rp200,000. You can e-mail Supardi to ask for directions. To buy the tanks ready made will cost around Rp250,000. With the profit that is made on the tanks, other tanks can be placed in schools. Get a tank for yourself or help sponsoring a tank for a school in your area. One tank can save hundreds of plastic bags being thrown away into the natural environment every week! For inquiries you may drop an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .