‘It gets your stomach churning’: the team wading through nappies to clean up Bali’s waterways

Every week, Sungai Watch staff and volunteers don waders and gloves and plunge into Bali’s waterways to clear them of waste. Photograph: Courtesy of Sungai Watch

It takes a few minutes to adapt every time. The rubbish that piles up against the plastic barriers across the waterways is not only nice, clean plastic bottles. Mixed into the murky mass is all sorts of waste: nappies, face masks, even electrical goods.

“You have perished food, the rest of chicken intestines. Unfortunately, we find a lot of dead animals as well, a lot of diapers. So it’s truly horrible, it really gets your stomach churning as you clean up.” But Kelly Bencheghib does not seem to be seriously put off, because she keeps on doing it.