Bali may be one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and one of the most beautiful, too, but scratch beneath the surface, and holidaymakers quickly see that the island needs some drastic changes.
Many people in Bali hope that tourism can be a force for good, especially when big tourism businesses invest in solutions that will help both local communities and improve visitor travel experiences.
Bali’s issues with waste management and ocean waste are well documented. As more people live on the island, both locals and tourists, more waste is produced.
Aside from waste produced on the island, the whole globe is grappling with the impacts of ocean plastic, and Bali is the recipient of tides upon tides of plastic waste every year, and this is before we consider the impacts of microplastics in the water.
Canggu is Bali’s busiest tourism resort right now. Once a very traditional Balinese village, the area has transformed from a relaxed haven for surfers and long-term travellers to a busy and booming international tourism resort. Canggu is also home to Bali’s leading beach clubs, including Finns Beach Club, which has just taken its commitment to supporting the environment one step further.
Finns Beach Club has teamed up with Seariel Cleaners to bring the BeBot Smart Beach Cleaning Robot to Canggu. The ESG Manager FINNS Bali, Abdul Manaf, told reporters that the new BeBot will be deployed daily for two and a half hours, depending on the weather, to help remove everything from cigarette butts to plastic shards, bottle caps, and inorganic debris from the sand. The BeBot filters sand down to a depth of 10cm, does not produce emissions, and is silent.
Manaf told reporters “We use this tool to clean the beach area in front of the FINNS property and also to the area around Pura Perancak.” He added “We hope this can be an inspiration for other tourism industry players in maintaining environmental cleanliness, especially in coastal areas.”
Manaf noted that the efforts of the private sector, especially the tourism sector, to work with local communities is the key to maintaining the preservation of Bali in the midst of increasing pressure due to tourism activities and marine plastic waste.’
Finns Beach Club’s BeBot is not the first of its kind to be deployed in Bali. Back in November 2024 the Hyatt Regency Bali and Andaz Bali, invested in a BeBot for the beachfront at Sanur.
Searial Cleaners, the company who has created the BeBot describes the equipment as “a smart autonomous robot that collects trash (cigarette butts, wrappers, bottle caps, cardboard and more) buried in a given area. Not only is it silent, it’s also solar-powered, making it an eco-friendly solution.”
The deployment of another BeBot in Bali comes just weeks after Bali’s Governor Wayan Koster announced that all tourism businesses on the island must devise their own waste management systems and stop sending waste to landfills.
Governor Koster even announced that businesses that fail to find solutions to manage their waste could have their permits and licenses revoked.
He noted that tourism businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, beach clubs, and entertainment venues, that implement an internally managed waste sorting system will be acknowledged with certifications and green awards.
With this in mind, over the next few months and certainly into the next decade, tourists in Bali will be called to support more eco-friendly practices while on vacation. This will include things like minimising waste, not using plastic water bottles, and sorting trash into the correct bins for appropriate recycling, composting, or disposal.
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