Bin-believable! A mesmerizing time-lapse video of waste-filled rivers in Indonesia being cleaned up by charity workers is going viral
The satisfaction of seeing a mess thoroughly cleaned up is undeniable.
And something underlined by a mesmerizing time-lapse video showing rivers in Indonesia being cleared of waste by a charity Sungai watch.
The footage condenses five cleanups that took a total of 14 hours into a clip of just one minute.
And it has left hundreds of thousands of social media users spellbound.
Sungai Watch posted the clip on its website Instagram pagewhere it has over 768,000 views at the time of writing.
The first, third and fifth clips were shot on the Indonesian island of Java and the second and fourth clips on the island of Bali.
Kelly Bencheghib, co-founder of Sungai Watch, revealed to MailOnline Travel that the cleanups shown in the timelapse removed 7,682kg (7.6 tonnes) of non-organic waste from the waterways.
Kelly runs Sungai Watch with her siblings Gary, 29, and Sam, 24.
They are from France, but moved to Bali 18 years ago.
Their charity works with 110 dedicated ‘river warriors’, who organize weekly clean-up events every Friday afternoon, ‘attracting hundreds of volunteers’.
A mesmerizing timelapse video shows rivers in Indonesia being cleared of waste by charity Sungai Watch. The footage condenses five cleanups that took a total of 14 hours into a clip of just one minute
Kelly Bencheghib, co-founder of Sungai Watch, revealed to MailOnline Travel that the cleanups shown in the timelapse removed 7,682kg (7.6 tonnes) of non-organic waste from the waterways. Kelly runs Sungai Watch with her siblings Gary, 29, and Sam, 24
The clean-up actions are not requested, but take place after ‘proactive reconnaissance missions to heavily polluted waste hotspots’.
Most common objects The charity’s teams find single-use plastic packaging and bags.
Kelly, 31, continues: ‘What we find in the rivers is mainly single-use food and drink packaging.
The clean-up actions are not requested, but take place after ‘proactive reconnaissance missions to heavily polluted waste hotspots’. The most common items the charity teams find are single-use plastic packaging and bags
‘However, we come across a wide range of items, including unexpected items such as wallets that are still in good condition, musical instruments, identity cards, mattresses, toilets and even TVs.
‘The variety is truly astonishing. We also find a fair number of dead animals such as pigs, dogs, chickens, snakes and others, which makes working conditions a lot more difficult.’
Kelly said Sungai Watch is “on a mission to protect and restore the world’s rivers by developing and designing simple technologies to stop the flow of plastic pollution into the ocean.”
She added: “I would also like to point out that we are not just cleaners. We are deeply committed to identifying the biggest contributors to this waste, the types of plastic that cause the most damage and their origins.
Co-founder Kelly said the items found include musical instruments, ID cards, mattresses, toilets and even TVs. Kelly said Sungai Watch is ‘on a mission to protect and restore the world’s rivers’
Was Kelly surprised the Instagram video got so many likes? She said: ‘We’re thrilled with the engagement our video has received.’ She added: “I would also like to point out that we are not just cleaners. We are deeply committed to identifying the biggest contributors to this waste.”
‘As a super short summary of our daily work: we clean our 200 [trash] barriers every day and to date we have collected over 1,600,000 kg of plastic. The waste collected at these barriers (and the cleanups you see in the video) is then taken to one of our sorting facilities, where it is sorted into over 30 categories.
‘The idea behind this far-reaching segregation is to recycle and upcycle as much as possible. We also carry out a brand audit on the waste. To date, we have analyzed more than 700,000 individual types of waste packaging. It’s tedious work, but it’s a step toward holding the big polluters accountable. We publish this list on a yearly basis.’
Was Kelly surprised the Instagram video got so many likes?
She said: “We are thrilled with the engagement our video has received. It highlights the urgent, borderless problem of plastic pollution and inspires broader awareness and action. Every like and share helps strengthen our mission for cleaner waterways.”