Bali's iconic beaches and typically idyllic waters have transformed into rubbish dumps with tonnes of filth piling higher than deck chairs where Australian tourists once sunned themselves on holiday.
The once-popular Kuta Beach is now a deserted coastline that looks more like a tip than an idyllic tourist destination, strewn with washed up bottles, bags, and plastic.
Between 30 and 60 tonnes of trash is being collected from Bali's most popular beaches each day, with the problem at its worst from December to March each year, where seasonal winds and heavy rain wash up the rubbish on the beach.
But locals believe the problem is worse than ever this year, as the island's workers also struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic denying them of the usual flood of tourists.
Shocking photos have emerged of local surfers and beachgoers sunbaking and walking along shorelines strewn with mountains of plastic cups, cans, bottles, discarded footwear and other debris.
Insurance Loans Mortgage Attorney Credit LawyerThe beaches are usually packed with hundreds of international tourists kept away by the coronavirus pandemic.
The monsoon season usually brings in trash but this year authorities say it has become worse with 30 and 60 tonnes of trash being collected from Bali's best known beaches each day. These pictures were taken over the weekend at Kuta Beach showing a once frequented tourist destination now submerged in piles of rubbish
Rubbish continues to plague the usually-idyllic beach, with locals unable to keep up with the quantity of debris (pictured, the beach on Saturday)
More than 30 tonnes of rubbish was removed on Friday from beaches in Kuta, Legian and Seminyak but the next day the amount doubled to 60 tonnes
Local residents sunbaking on a clean and rubbish free Kuta Beach in September before the monsoon season hit and left it looking like a rubbish tip (pictured on September 4)
The trash continues to grow, despite the desperate efforts by local authorities to clear the mess on a daily basis.
Insurance Loans Mortgage Attorney Credit LawyerWayan Puja, from Badung's environment and sanitation agency, which covers the Kuta, Seminyak and Jimbaran beaches, says the trash is seemingly never-ending.
'We have been working really hard to clean up the beaches, however the trash keeps coming,' Wayan said.
'Every day we deploy our personnel, trucks and loaders.'
He said more than 30 tonnes of rubbish was removed on Friday from beaches in Kuta, Legian and Seminyak before the amount doubled to 60 tonnes on Saturday.
More than a million Australians flocked to Bali each year before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Pictured is Kuta Beach
Thousands visit Bali's famous Kuta Beach (pictured pristine outside monsoon season) each year
Wayan said while rubbish flooding onto Bali beaches was a regular phenomenon at this time of year, due to weather conditions, it was getting worse.
Dr Gede Hendrawan, the head of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Ocean Scienes at Bali's Udayana University, said the biggest problem was Indonesia's ineffective rubbish handling systems.
'The biggest problem is actually the trash handling hasn't been effective in Indonesia. Bali has just started to reorganise it, also Java has just started,' he said.
Indonesia's ineffective rubbish handling systems has been blamed as Bali's Governor, Wayan Koster, urges a serious clean-up for beaches (pictured, trash on Kuta Beach)
The cleaning up system does not have adequate equipment and resources to quickly remove rubbish from beaches. Currently, they use trucks and loaders (pictured on Kuta Beach on Saturday)
Locals are disappointed at what their beaches have become - the site of a rubbish tip (pictured) littered with plastic
Kuta Beach (pictured) is rubbish-free for nine months of the year, until the monsoon
