Key facts
Only One members are funding the removal of 350,000 kilograms of plastic from rivers, mangrove forests, beaches, and illegal landfill sites in the regency (kabupaten) of Gianyar, Bali by 2026.
The project collects, sorts, and processes ocean-bound plastic, protects marine life from pollution, and helps nurture local communities to find long-term waste management solutions.
Over 80% of plastic waste in the ocean comes from rivers, so by building innovative barriers for catching and cleaning up inorganic materials, our plastics removal partner Sungai Watch tackles a major choke point in the fight against global marine pollution. As of January 2023, Sungai Watch has installed 21 co-branded river barriers sponsored by Only One.
Sungai Watch works to form meaningful, enduring community partnerships. Their plastics removal project in Gianyar has engaged over 700 community members.
How the project works
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Sungai Watch organizes and carries out daily cleanups of every plastic-catching barrier sponsored by Only One members, supported by a team of over 100 “river warriors” working in mangrove forests, inland waterways, and along coastlines in Bali, Indonesia.
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A dedicated subteam sorts every piece of trash into over 15 categories, identifying what can be repurposed or recycled. Sungai Watch has an ambition to ensure 0% of plastics and other inorganic waste collected by their team ends up in landfill.
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It is estimated that on the island of Bali, less than 5% of plastic waste is recycled. To change this, Sungai Watch washes, shreds, and prepares all trash fit for recycling. They also recover organic waste, which is turned into compost or biochar and returned to riverbanks and farms to revitalize soils.
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Sungai Watch’s team records and analyzes data from every cleanup to spark conversations with stakeholders around how to curb plastic pollution, advocating for our ocean and the communities that depend on it.
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Every plastic waste category is given value. Right now, Sungai Watch is experimenting with turning trash into products.
Become a member of Only One today to fund Sungai Watch’s project and take direct action to save the planet — planting your own ocean forests and coral reefs, and removing plastic and carbon pollution.
Project impact
All projects on Only One help save the ocean and fix the climate, and 100% of our members’ funds always go to impact. You can learn more and see proof of our 100% model on our Transparency page. Keep reading to discover how our “Catching plastic with river barriers in Bali” project is having a positive effect.
Biodiversity and ecosystems
Sungai Watch focuses on a major bottleneck in the global plastics crisis: decreasing river pollution. By funding this cleanup project, Only One members are supporting and promoting healthy rivers and preventing plastic waste from getting into the sea. The complex network of waterways, coastlines, and open ocean in Indonesia plays an important role in regulating our atmosphere, so efforts to remove plastics help restore ecosystems and stabilize the climate.
Since installing their very first barrier in Bali in 2020, the team at Sungai Watch has diverted more than 1.7 million kilograms of plastic from rivers. One of their focus areas is the restoration of mangrove forests — the carbon-capture powerhouses that help tackle climate change in a whole host of ways. Not only do ocean trees absorb and store 4 to 10 times more carbon than rainforests, but they also protect coastlines from storms, flooding, and erosion, and provide a safe haven for a vast range of marine life.
Join our Million Mangrove Challenge to learn more about the power of ocean trees and plant your own!
Plastics removal
Through this project, Only One members are directly funding 21 river barriers in the Gianyar regency, which has an area of 368 square kilometers, with an emphasis on the city of Ubud. Sungai Watch works to introduce innovative infrastructure and advance essential waste management practices in areas currently without effective solutions. In just one year, their team designed, tested, and deployed more than 100 trash barriers in waterways across Bali, experimenting with technologies such as booms, nets, cages, and blocks to learn how we can best improve our land-based initiatives to protect the ocean.
The team at Sungai Watch has also created a crowdsourced map of “emergency” areas in need of restoration, with a hotline for illegal landfills and plastic-polluted rivers, championing invaluable local knowledge and insight.
Community development
Indonesia currently ranks as the second largest contributor to marine plastic pollution after China, largely due to a lack of waste management and recycling infrastructure. To help combat this, Sungai Watch actively engages with local communities at a village level, working to form meaningful, enduring relationships. Whenever new river barriers are introduced, Sungai Watch consults with farmers association representatives, religious leaders from the village, and the kelian banjar (district head). Each new project, including Only One’s, is started as a partnership, with youth groups and local women’s clubs playing vital roles.
Over 90% of Balinese residents live within one kilometer of a river, and with their plastics recovery project expanded to Gianyar thanks to Only One members’ funds, Sungai Watch supports an estimated 510,000 locals who depend on waterways to sustain their livelihoods and health. The project employs patrol team members responsible for cleaning the barriers and riverbanks each day, sorting staff who process the trash collected at Sungai Watch’s Ubud facility, and a plastics recovery station manager — with community volunteers joining cleanups on a regular basis.
Advocacy and education
For Sungai Watch, installing barriers to catch and clean up plastic pollution is just the beginning of implementing effective, efficient, and long-term solutions. Beyond their removal efforts that directly and immediately benefit the environment, they also serve as a vital conversation starter, supporting educational workshops designed to encourage better waste management. Local community engagement is an essential part of Sungai Watch's approach to protecting Indonesian waterways, and their team builds on this impetus to advocate for a healthy ocean at the government level, raising awareness and demanding change from influential stakeholders and decision makers.
Sustainable Development Goals
By supporting the “Catching plastic with river barriers in Bali” project, Only One members’ funds go toward these 7 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Project reporting
New photos and videos from the field will be shared on a quarterly basis, so members of Only One can see their impact come to life in real time! Sungai Watch will send Only One a quarterly report on how the plastics removal project is progressing, including the total amount of plastic collected, a waste breakdown, and insights into how our sponsored river barriers are benefiting local communities. Explore our project implementation reports in our Impact Dashboard, or dive straight into the latest from Sungai Watch here.
More about our plastics removal partner
With over 80% of plastic waste in the ocean coming from rivers, Sungai Watch believes that the best way of tackling plastic pollution includes directly cleaning up river ecosystems, collaborating with local communities to develop affordable and actionable solutions, provide accessible education, and share knowledge with stakeholders. Founded in 2020 by Gary, Kelly, and Sam Bencheghib, Sungai Watch is now a team of over 100 passionate “river warriors” working every day to fight ocean-bound plastic.
