Trash Mountain

Trash mountain, or Tres mountain to the locals, is located North of Sanur, in Bali. This mountain of rubbish comes from 4 cities in southern Bali. It is where half of all Bali’s rubbish from resorts, tourists and locals is dumped. There are 100 families, over 500 men, women and children living on Trash mountain. This is a community of trash pickers, earning less than $3/day. Men climb the mountain picking single-use plastic bottles and containers which the women clean and sort in makeshift shade of cardboard and tin.

Suwung Community Centre was set up to empower disadvantaged trash pickers through training in alternative work and to provide literacy and education for their children. Working in partnership with BaliLife, Plastic Collective will deliver the Shruder machine, tools and working with plastics training to empower the Trash Mountain community with an onsite plastic processing plant. The plant will provide the community with the means to create for themselves new micro-businesses, reduce their transportation costs, increase their current profits and improve their overall quality of life and those of their children.