Twelve-year-old Alya Mukaram, was playing with her friends on the shores of Ternate City\u2019s Gambesi urban ward that late afternoon in mid September 2021. The seventh grader and her friends Rara, Melati, Riska, Arfa, and Mawar were gathering plastic jars, containers, spoons and forks, and other plastic objects they can use to play with at the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alya said that the shore was her favorite playground after school hours where she can salvage items they can use as toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPlaying here is easy, it is not difficult to find toys. We just have to come and we will find them,\u201d Alya said with glee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ali, a resident of Gambesi, said that the garbage that covers the beach in the area actually came from the mountain, brought down to the shores by heavy rains through dry river gullies, known locally as barangkas<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waste also comes from the Sasa and Jambula urban wards of Ternate island, carried by the sea current to the shores of Gambesi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The amount of waste piling up here is not normal, maybe because there has been a lot of rain in the past few days and also the currents are strong so that the waste at the bottom of the sea are being washed ashore,\u201d said Ali on that same afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 54-year-old resident said that the waste not only dirties the sea and the shores but also threatens the local marine ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen waste comes down through the barangkas and reaches the sea, we are the ones who will feel the impact, what’s more, in this area, we have sea grass and fishes that we consume.”<\/p>Ali, Gambesi Urbanward<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Ali said that the waste began to noticeably pile up in this shore in 2013, but at the time it only happened during the rainy seasons. In the dry seasons the waste is less visible and often was quickly washed away by the tide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plastic waste makes up the majority of the waste that piles up in the rainy season. Plastic straws, plastic and glass bottles, tins, instant noodle packages, old containers, diapers, and other plastic material pile up on the shores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They mostly came from household waste from higher grounds that are just dumped into the barangkas<\/em> and drainage canals, and end up in the sea. Data from the Ternate City Disaster Mitigation Agency showed that there are 31 barangkas<\/em> across the city that leads to the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Observation at the beaches in Bationg and Gambesi subdistricts in mid September 2021 found piles of waste covering the entire coast and the sea in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n