Over the last 2 years, beach cleaning robots have been trialed in some of Bali’s top resorts by major hotel brands.
Now local leaders are sharing their hopes that these high-tech hoovers could help change the way in which the island’s most popular beaches are maintained.
The Deputy Regent of Badung, Alit Sucipta, has this week visited FINNS Beach Club in Canggu to formally launch the deployment of the Seariel Cleaners BeBot Smart Beach Cleaning Robot. The robot has been resident at FINNS Beach Club since May this year, but at Tuesday afternoon’s event, local leaders from all backgrounds came together to discuss the future of beach management in Bali’s busiest tourism resort.
Deputy Regent Sucipta told reporters, “If you look at what we’ve seen, this is a reference point that we need to study. This robot can be used, but with an even larger capacity, so we can provide it to each traditional village in coastal areas.”
He added, “This is one of the things we see potential in, but BeBot isn’t yet able to maximise its performance. Perhaps in the future we can use the same robot machine but with a larger capacity so it can collect other types of waste.”
Deputy Regent Sucipta shared his praise for FINNS Beach Club as a private company for taking the initiative to take more responsibility for both the waste produced within its business activities and that is present in the surrounding environment. He told reporters that he hopes other businesses will follow suit and invest in these kinds of technologies and implement more zero-waste policies within their operations.
The Director of PT Pantai Semara Nusantara (FINNS Beach Club), Wayan Asrama, told reporters that the trial period for the Seariel Cleaners BeBot Smart Beach Cleaning Robot has been completed, and testing has proven successful.
The solar-powered robot has been working 2.5 hours a day, and has been able to clear 180m stretches of Berawa Beach and Perancak Beach.
Asrama shared, “We are going to reduce pollution because BeBot uses pollution-free batteries. Now we have one, maybe in the future we can add more, so we can clean more areas, like other beaches in Tibubeneng.”
At present, each BeBot is priced at approximately EUR 60,000 and has helped FINNS Beach Club in its mission to reduce waste going to landfill.
Over the last 12 months, the company has been able to reduce its waste disposal dramatically through a series of measures without compromising on visitor experience.
Asrama added, “Everything is sorted from the source. Since this step began, we have succeeded in reducing the waste disposed of in landfills from 80% to 20% based on last year’s audit.”
“But it’s not finished there, by the end of 2025, our target is for only 5% of waste to be entering landfill.”
The updates from FINNS Beach Club come just as the Bali Provincial Government confirms that the Suwung TPA, Bali’s largest open landfill, is officially closed.
While residual waste is still anticipated to be accepted until the end of the year, the daily dump trucks are no longer permitted to drop off waste. This development has been a long time coming.
In the run-up to Bali’s hosting of the G20 Summit in November 2022, Bali’s Governor Wayan Koster had aimed for all the island’s landfills to be closed and a fully regenerative waste management system to be in effect across the island.
FINNS is not the only private company in Bali to have deployed the BeBot Smart Beach Cleaning Robot. Back in November 2023, the device was first introduced to the island by Hyatt Regency Bali and Andaz Bali in Sanur.
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