Bali Equipment

4ocean Bali: The cleanup equipment

YOUR IMPACT

Our crews are safe and efficient because of you

There is no playbook for cleaning the ocean. Over the last few years, we’ve tested a lot of solutions to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. Every single pound of trash we’ve pulled has been an opportunity to learn. And one of the most important things we’ve learned is that every location has its own unique needs and cleanup methodology.

Now, we want to show you all of the tools and equipment we’ve invested in to keep our crews safe and maximize our impact in Bali. Remember that this is what you make possible every time you shop 4ocean and pull a pound of trash.

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Jukung for ocean cleanups

The first boats we purchased for the Bali crew were traditional Indonesian outrigger canoes called jukung or cadiks, which have been used by our crews and their ancestors for generations to catch things like jellyfish and layur, or hairtail, fish. Each craft has been lovingly refurbished and customized specifically to collect ocean plastic.

For example, two jukung were modified to create an “ocean plastic trawl” that our team calls Kapal Serok, or the President Ship. A clever netting system was installed between the connected jukung to collect trash floating on the ocean’s surface while our crew operates off the outer sides of the vessel to ensure that no marine debris is missed during our daily ocean cleanups.

Jukung for river cleanups

We also modified two broken jukung to create a custom pontoon-style boat that gives our cleanup crews easy access to trash in the river. The riverboat sits six or seven people, can hold up to 5 tons of trash, and is mainly used by our Jembrana crews to recover trash from the Ijo Gading River where it’s extremely effective.

River boom systems

We currently have two river boom systems installed in Jembrana to prevent inland plastic from flowing into the ocean. These floating barriers are over 30 meters long and are strategically placed to capture river plastic before it can become ocean plastic. 4ocean Bali has one river boom system in the Ijo Gading River and another in the Samblong River, a small but highly polluted river in Bali’s Jembrana Regency. We have three crews that service each boom system daily.

Trash lift

A single storage sack can weigh hundreds of pounds. This machine, which sits on the banks of the Ijo Gading river, helps our team lift recovered trash to the top of the riverbank without injuring themselves.

Plastic recovery nets

One of the simplest and most efficient tools in our cleanup arsenal is a basic fishing net. The shorter nets are suitable for collecting trash in the open ocean because they’re easy to use, durable, and can hold up to 25 pounds of trash in every scoop.

The longer 7-foot nets extend up to 13 feet so our crews don’t need to use their hands to gather debris trapped in highly polluted and potentially hazardous waters. They’re also ideal for walking the coastline and scooping up plastic and debris that floats in the surf.

Storage receptacles

4ocean Bali recovers an average of 17,000 pounds of trash daily. We want to make sure none of the trash we collect escapes back into the environment so we use a variety of containment sacks to hold our plastic while we clean and during transport. Large size sacks are used to contain plastic during our daily cleanups and to store and transport sorted debris at our facilities. Smaller sacks are used to store and transport crushed glass while the largest sacks are used to store and transport flaked plastic.

Transport vehicles

To operate efficiently and reduce our carbon emissions, we use a variety of vehicles to transport our crews, equipment, and recovered materials around the island.

Scooters + motorbikes

Bali has many narrow streets, which is why scooters and motorbikes are the main method of transportation for most island residents, including our crews who use them to travel to and from work and for other activities. Not only are these vehicles less expensive than cars, they also consume less fuel which helps keep our carbon footprint low.

Trucks

Trucks are used at all of our locations in Bali to transport recovered debris back to our bases. Trash from our Denpasar and Medewi locations are transported to our Jembrana location by truck for final processing at our lumber facility where our baling and flaking machines are located.

Vans

The van at our Jembrana location is used to transport our coastal crews to and from cleanup locations that are a good distance from our main base. It’s also used to transport trash when our crews have had a particularly impactful day and our trucks are at capacity.

The van at our Denpasar location is generally used to transport bracelet components to our artisans who live and work in towns and villages across the island. It’s also used to transport finished goods to freight forwarders like DHL that will bring those goods to you.

Material processing machines

Once trash has been sorted at each of our locations, it’s transported to our facility in Jembrana for processing. We use a variety of machines to support the massive intake of plastic and other recovered debris at this location. These include a trash shaker, sorting conveyors, and glass crusher as well as custom baling and flaking machines that were designed specifically to fit within our Jembrana facility by local manufacturers in East Java.

The river trash we collect is often covered in dirt and mud. The trash shaker is used to remove contaminants from recovered debris before it’s sorted.

The sorting conveyor is used to maximize the efficiency of our hand sorting process, which is required to ensure that each piece of recovered debris is disposed of in the most sustainable way possible.

Our custom baler compresses sorted plastics into a bale that’s easier to transport and can process up to 10 tons of plastic every eight hours, depending on the type of plastic.

Our custom flaking machine prepares recovered ocean plastic for recycling by washing it and shredding it into small flakes. This machine can process up to 3 tons of plastic every eight hours depending on the type of plastic.

The glass crusher pulverizes our recovered ocean glass to prep it for recycling. Once crushed, recovered ocean glass is transported to recycling partners who use it to make new products like our clear glass bracelet beads.

Wastewater treatment plant

The plastic shredder that flakes our recovered ocean plastic also uses water to wash the plastic. All water discharged during this process is routed to our wastewater treatment plant, which can hold up to 30,000 liters of water. Once treated, the clean water is routed back to the shredder where it’s reused in a continuous, closed-loop process that doesn’t waste water or release dirty water into the environment.

Crew uniforms

Shirts

Every crew member wears a signature blue 4ocean shirt. Our Bali crews mostly use long-sleeve shirts because they provide protection from both the sun and the materials they work with.

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Hats

Bali is a tropical paradise and the sun can be pretty fierce, especially when you’re spending a full day doing physical activity like cleaning the ocean. That’s why our Bali crews wear custom trucker hats that have an attachable neck cover. It can get pretty windy on the water, so our ocean, river boom, and river crews also tie a rope to their neck covers to make sure they’re not blown away by a strong breeze.

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Gloves

Our Bali crews use specialized gloves that are especially tough and thick to protect their hands from contaminants and sharp objects while they’re cleaning.

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Crew gear

Buffs + Face Masks

The safety of our crews is paramount. While they’ve always used buffs to protect themselves from the sun and contaminants, we’ve also equipped them with reusable face masks to add another layer of protection during the pandemic.

Life vests

Our ocean crews always wear life vests with an Indoensian National Standard (SNI) license to ensure they’re safe even on the roughest seas.

Helmets

Some of the debris we recover can be especially heavy or have blunt or sharp edges that could cause injury on impact. That’s why sorting crews that work near large piles of debris are required to wear helmets that will protect their heads in the event that debris falls from the pile.

Walkie Talkies

Cell reception can be a bit dodgy for our ocean and river crews, which is why they’re always given walkie talkies before they go out to clean. Not only do our crews use these units to communicate with each other, they’re also used by our ocean crews to communicate with the harbormaster and local fishermen regarding the weather and areas where trash is accumulating.

Uncover the full story of 4ocean Bali

We’re taking the clean ocean movement behind the scenes of our cleanup operation in Bali over the next couple months. Check out the stories we’ve shared so far and scroll down to sign up for email alerts so never miss a new update!

The birthplace of 4ocean

Our founders grew up in Florida and made their living from the ocean, but Bali is where they truly began to understand the severity of the ocean plastic crisis and its impact not just on marine life, but on the coastal communities that, like them, relied on the health of the ocean to survive. Click the button below to explore the sources of plastic pollution in Indonesia and see the island that inspired the clean ocean movement.

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4ocean Bali’s cleanup strategy

We chose to launch our first international cleanup operation on the island of Bali not just because it’s the birthplace of 4ocean, but because it strategically places us in areas where we can have the biggest impact.

Explore Our Strategy

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Help us reach our goal of 20 million pounds pulled by the end of 2021

Every pound of trash you pull funds our global ocean cleanup operation and advances our mission of ending the ocean plastic crisis. The work we do is only possible because of you.