In recent years, Gili Trawangan has become an alternative tourism destination to Bali. Tourists seeking places other than Bali usually move to Gili Trawangan.
No wonder many fast boats directly connect Bali and Gili Trawangan.
As a tourist destination, Gili Trawangan is now facing a serious problem: the amount of waste produced by tourists and residents, ranging from disposable plastics to plastic drink bottles to liquor bottles. This waste not only affects the natural beauty of the island but also the livelihoods of the local community.
In an uploaded video, Gili Eco Trust showcases one of the organization’s solutions to manage waste in the Gili Trawangan area.
Lihat postingan ini di Instagram
Gili Eco Trust is a non-governmental organization named Yayasan Ekosistem Gili Indah. It carries out various environmental conservation activities.
These include protecting and rehabilitating coral reefs, preventing coastal erosion, cleaning beaches, conducting education and awareness raising, managing and recycling waste, providing health clinics for animals, and research on coral reefs.
Gili Eco Trust also manages waste in the area. Waste is separated according to its category, and then the recycling process is carried out.
For example, most of the shard bottles used for liquor are no longer taken by the producers. In the video, Gili Eco Trust explains that only the Bintang brand receives a shipment of used bottles back to the manufacturer for refilling.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for other glass bottles. They collect them from landfills or beach bars and transform them into unique and beautiful items such as drinking glasses, ashtrays, lamps, earrings, and other jewelry cut from the bottles!
Well, local businesses can order these eco-friendly products in bulk and personalize them with their logo or name engraved on the glass. This is all done in our glass workshop right on Gili Trawangan.
Of course, it’s a greener option for businesses to have professional and personalized engraved products on their premises or for tourists to shop for cool gifts made in Gili Trawangan.
“Proceeds from the Gili Glass campaign go straight back into the recycling project, and the people who buy it help us to keep the island clean,” wrote Gili Eco Trust.
