I think you may be the Demographic they would like to attract.. But Tourism is new here. Before Tourists the locals ate bananas and pineapple, other natural foods and could throw away the skins and left over fruit as it is biodegradable. Westerners brought plastic. Yes we are the culprits. A new community project from SLCA (southern Lombok community Association) has set about getting Large Rubbish bins placed around town (if you want to be part of the solution, you can sponsor a bin for just Rp 150,000 a month that's $15 AUD. We provide the bin and clean and dispose of the trash in a government sponsored responsible way) SLCA are also educating children through schools and Lombok Kids Foundation have started a weekly clean up. slowly through this education children and their parents will understand why its not good to throw rubbish away or burn plastic. Give us some time and Come back one day and see the difference.

I am part of SLCA ( southern Lombok Community Association) we set up in large part becuase of the rubbish situation. We ahve been doing some clean ups and also we now have Bins for sponsorship. We are rolling them out over the next few weeks. They are large and we will take care of rubbish collection and cleaning and maintaining the bins. We ask people to sponsor one bin at Rp150,000 a month. That is around $15 Australian. If you would like to be part of the solution please let me know and send your email address and I will send a sponsorship form. We are also training kids about rubbish and the effects on the environment and hurting sea turtles and sea birds. We do this hrough the lombok kids foundation and through education in the schools. you visited at the only time of year we have flys. and the governemtn in the october had pulled down all the illegal buildings on the beach so it was loooking VERY bad in deed. Please come back in a year and see the difference ;-)

Can we ride scooters to mangrove forest?