Photos showing Legian Beach in Legian Village, Kuta District, Badung, Bali, littered with medical waste have gone viral on social media.
A photo showing medical waste, consisting of used syringes, was uploaded to the Facebook group Bali Bogans on Thursday, the 24th of July. The uploader urged people to be careful when playing on the beach, especially when bringing small children.
“There’s a pile of medical waste washed up on the beach. We’ve collected two bags containing syringe tips, some without needles,” the tourist wrote.
Legian tourism operator I Wayan Puspa Negara expressed his disappointment at the discovery of medical waste on the beach. He believes it seriously disrupts the comfort of the Legian destination.
“Medical waste like that shouldn’t be dumped carelessly. Or perhaps it was washed up somewhere and carried by the current and washed up on the beach,” Puspa Negara said to the press on Monday, 28th of July.
The Badung Regency Environment and Sanitation Agency (Dinas Lingkungan Hidup dan Kebersihan or DLHK), along with the Legian Village Head, conducted a field inspection on Monday. The Head of the Environmental Management and Capacity Building Division of DLHK Badung, I Nyoman Sumantra, confirmed that his team had carried out inspections and gathered information at the location. According to information from local vendors, a foreigner had previously left a plastic bag of rubbish there. However, its contents remain unknown.
“So there are several possibilities. First, it didn’t happen in Legian. Based on the photos of the scattered trash, the sand is black. And it’s the easterly wind season, when there’s very little trash on Legian Beach. Second, it’s a waste from stray dog vaccinations by a certain community, and there was no assistance from the beach management. Third, it’s trash brought from outside to Legian and photographed there,” Sumantra said.
Meanwhile, Legian Village Head Putu Eka Martini stated that, based on communications with beach managers and vendors, no syringes have ever been found on Legian Beach. In fact, there have been no reports of such waste being discovered.
“We only found out about it from information on social media. To date, there have been no reports of such waste being found,” Martini said on Monday as well.