Selamat pagi! After a day with tourism activities on the multiple islands around Belitung today was filled with research activities. We started early with a meeting with our supervisors. After this we had the opportunity to interview representatives of the local government. Here we gained a lot of useful insights in the waste management of Belitung.
Together with Agus we went to see the TPS and TPA. The TPS is a temporary waste dumpsite and the TPA is the final destination of the waste and also a dumpsite. The differences with our activities of yesterday were striking. Imagine clear blue water, paradise-like island views, traditional boats and a sea with turtles, colourful fish and coral for the first day. Now imagine a waste dump where you see waste as far as you can look, an old man living and working on the dump for his whole life and little piles of waste burning around you. I think the differences are very clear, even without mentioning the difference in smell. Obviously tourists will often only see the first image of the island although they also contribute to the growth of the waste dump. That’s why we as a group think that it is important to create awareness about the consequences of waste, also among tourists.
Luckily we could end our day with something nice: a visit to a traditional house. They opened the house up again only for us as they were actually already closed. The people here on Belitung are extremely hospitable and friendly!
So, in the end we all want to have fun during our holidays but it would be good to be aware of the consequences 😊
Special thanks to Agus for driving us around the whole day and being our translator!
Written by: Nina
