From a Classroom Question to a Balinese Policy Change
In 2012, two sisters attending school in Bali asked themselves a question that most adults sidestep: what can we actually do, right now, to change the place where we live? Melati Wijsen was 12 and her sister Isabel was 10. Their answer was Bye Bye Plastic Bags, a youth-led campaign that would spend the better part of six years collecting petition signatures, running beach clean-ups, delivering educational presentations, and repeatedly seeking a meeting with Bali's governor.
The campaign drew inspiration from historical figures the sisters were studying at school, including Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. That influence shaped their tactics. When conventional outreach stalled, they staged a hunger strike from sunrise to sunset, conducted under medical supervision. According to their own TED talk, cited by the Times of India, the following day they were brought in to meet the governor.
What the Ban Actually Covers
The hunger strike is the part of the story most often retold, but it was neither the start of the campaign nor the moment that produced legislation. Bali Governor Regulation No. 97 of 2018 came after years of pressure from Bye Bye Plastic Bags alongside many other communities and NGOs on the island. The regulation targeted disposable plastic bags, polystyrene, and plastic straws. Enforcement of those restrictions took effect in 2019, according to an assessment of the regulation summarised by the Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris.
Bye Bye Plastic Bags' own media materials are careful on this point: the sisters' six years of advocacy "played a part" in the government's decision, alongside broader civil society efforts. The organisation does not claim sole credit.
A Movement That Grew Well Beyond Bali
By the time the regulation passed, the campaign had already expanded internationally. UNESCO profiles Bye Bye Plastic Bags as a youth-driven NGO operating across 60 global teams, reaching an increasing number of countries. In 2018, TIME named Melati and Isabel among its 25 Most Influential Teens and reported that Bali's Biggest Clean-Up that year mobilised 20,000 participants who collected 65 tonnes of waste. The same year, the sisters had helped persuade 350 local businesses to commit to eliminating everyday plastic products including cups and straws.
The organisation also supported local women in producing alternative bags, combining advocacy with practical economic activity at the community level.
Why It Matters for Hosts
For independent accommodation operators and hospitality businesses in Bali, the 2019 restrictions on single-use plastic bags, polystyrene, and straws are not optional guidelines. They are active regulation. Operators who still offer single-use plastics at check-in, in room amenities, or at breakfast service are out of step with both the law and the expectations of the international travelers most likely to book independent properties. Replacing these items with reusable or compostable alternatives is a compliance baseline, but it also functions as a genuine selling point. Guests who care enough about Bali to choose a locally run property over a chain hotel are, as a group, more likely to notice and appreciate visible environmental commitments. Documenting those commitments in property listings and guest communications is a low-cost way to align with the values that brought many visitors to the island in the first place.
The details in this post were first reported by the Times of India. This post was produced by the Qontaktly travel blog.
First reported by Bali Travel.