A ceremony is essential for the Balinese. There are over 2,000 ceremonies per year happening on this island, which explains things like tiny coconut leaf baskets of rice, fruits and flowers can be seen everywhere. Whether it be in every corner of the street, in front of every door, inside the office, in the temples or shrines, and even in the dashboards of cars or motorbikes. They are everywhere.
It is the philosophy of the ‘Tri Hita Karana’ the main idea why the Balinese are doing it. The harmony with God, people and nature. Unfortunately, the practice of this philosophy is not fully applied in the ceremony, which relates to the post-ceremonial waste, which also means it’s not making harmony with nature. This is the inconvenient truth that the government keeps on ignoring it.
Do you know that the number of waste produced by a single ceremony could reach about 100 kilograms trash? Although there have been some attempts to solve this issue, basically, none of us understands how to treat the post-ceremonial waste. The Balinese normally either burn or dump the waste, which is the easiest way. And the worst part is, all the waste will end up in the landfill and eventually out in the ocean. In the meantime, the traditions and ways of performing ceremonies will still be the same and can never be changed.
From here, we can see a lack of understanding on how to manage the waste and the adequate facilities to manage the post-ceremonies waste. This motivates NISKALA BALI to launch a waste management service for Balinese ceremonies. Their mission is simple; to create zero waste ceremonies by managing the waste properly.
This is how the system works. They install some separation bins in different categories of waste. To assist people at the ceremony, a waste coordinator will be available at every service. Next, they send the waste to their partners who will recycle and compost them to be valuable products. Niskala has already partnered with the leading recycling and composting services on the island, EcoBali Recycling and Bali Compost Crafters. Realising the behaviour of burning or dumping waste has already rooted in the Balinese lives, it may take time to see the impact of this idea. But there is a huge potential in changing this old behaviour through ceremonies, and Niskala team will work side-by-side with the high priests of the temple to be the influencer.
However, at the end of the day, life is all about making decisions. We can continue creating pollution or find a solution through an action. It is us to decide!
More info about Niskala Bali, go to their FanPage at www.facebook.com/Niskalabali
