Khiri Travel Indonesia will launch a long-term commitment to reduce plastic garbage and replant mangroves on Gili Gede island in southwest Lombok, Indonesia, 25 June. The initiative is being done in cooperation with Hula Hoop Bungalows and local villagers. Khiri Travel staff have been inspired by World Oceans Day – which took place 8 June – and the 25th anniversary of Khiri Travel.
The program will remove trash and build garbage collection carts and recycling separation cages in each of the island’s five villages. Khiri staff will provide Nazava water filters to the women’s community craft centre to reduce reliance on plastic water bottles.
On 25 June Khiri Travel staff and villagers will also prepare the ground work for the island’s mangrove restoration project, which gets underway in October.
Khiri Travel is asking its travel agent partners and businesses to raise funds for the mangrove project or help with the physical planting.
Led by Khiri Reach, the charitable arm of Khiri Travel, and Hula Hoop, funds raised will buy drinking water filtration units (US$22 each) to reduce plastic bottle use. With funding, the project will regularly transport recyclable plastic from the island to a recycling centre on mainland Lombok.
From October, the partnership will purchase different species of mangrove and encourage villagers to plant and care for them. Mangroves are important marine breeding grounds and a buffer against coastal erosion.
Brigita Helgania, the Khiri Reach ambassador for the project, said that working closely over the long term with villagers on the island would be key to success.
“Our partnership with Hula Hoop and the villagers will promote environmental education and show that small steps taken locally can make a big difference,” she said.
Eight million tons of plastic are being dumped in the ocean globally every year. Sea turtles, sea lions, birds, fish, whales and dolphins are accidentally eating harmful plastics, which end up killing them or leaving them in conditions that threaten their lives.
“Humans are producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year,” said Yantine Buijs of Hula Hoop Bungalows. “Half of which is for single use. Most is never recycled. This has to stop. Locally, we’re doing what we can to help Gili Gede move in the right direction.”
Businesses or individuals wishing to help the Gili Gede clean up on 25 June or contribute to the island’s long-term mangrove replanting, should contact Brigita Helgania of Khiri Travel Indonesia. Email:brigita@khiri.com.
Khiri Travel has five offices across Indonesia. Its main office is in Lombok.
Further information: Khiri.com/Indonesia or Khiri.com/sustainability.
Tags: Khiri Travel Indonesia
