Labuan Bajo cleanups recorded 20,007.54 kilograms of marine debris

Labuan Bajo — Beach cleanup records from Indonesia’s coastal restoration programme show a total of 20,007.54 kilograms of waste collected in Labuan Bajo during two government-led events in 2017 and 2018, according to a presentation by Sapta Putra of the Directorate of Coastal and Small Islands Management at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

The presentation lists Labuan Bajo’s contribution as 19,000 kilograms of debris collected on 29 September 2017 and 1,007.54 kilograms collected on 3 October 2018, for a combined total of 20,007.54 kilograms over the two events. A separate report by marine news outlet Dari Laut confirms the 1,007.54‑kilogram figure for the 2018 cleanup at Pantai Pede in Labuan Bajo, citing officials from the Directorate General of Marine Spatial Management.

The higher figure of 28,777.50 kilograms sometimes associated with the 2017 campaign refers to the aggregate weight collected across six listed cleanup locations, not Labuan Bajo alone. Within that multi-site total, Labuan Bajo accounts for 19,000 kilograms based on the government record.

What the record shows

The cleanup activities in Labuan Bajo are described in the presentation as part of the government’s Gita Laut, or “Love Our Oceans,” movement, which promotes beach and underwater cleanups and other outreach on marine debris. The Labuan Bajo events are identified as beach cleanups under the Gerakan Bersih Pantai dan Laut (Beach and Underwater Clean Up) component, carried out by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

For Labuan Bajo, the presentation provides event-level totals of debris collected but does not specify the length of shoreline covered, the number of participants, the duration of activities, weather or tide conditions, or how much material was taken from beaches versus shallow water. The Dari Laut report notes that the 2018 cleanup took place at Pantai Pede and that the collected waste was sent to a local processing facility in West Manggarai, but likewise does not provide more detailed field measurements.

The record also does not break the Labuan Bajo material down into categories such as plastic, fishing gear, food packaging, glass, metals or organic matter. National and international assessments of marine debris in Indonesia highlight plastics and packaging waste as major components of coastal pollution, but the Labuan Bajo event data do not quantify those fractions.

Recorded Labuan Bajo figures:

• 29 September 2017: 19,000 kilograms of debris collected in Labuan Bajo.
• 3 October 2018: 1,007.54 kilograms collected during a cleanup at Pantai Pede in Labuan Bajo.
• Combined Labuan Bajo total for the two events: 20,007.54 kilograms.
• 2017 total across six listed cleanup sites: 28,777.50 kilograms.

At the national level, the same presentation reports 396,680.64 kilograms of debris collected through Gita Laut beach cleanups between 2017 and 2019. That figure includes a reported 360,000 kilograms from beach cleanups at more than 73 locations on 19 August 2018, illustrating the scale of the programme but not providing site‑specific trends for Labuan Bajo.

Why comparisons require caution

The recorded 19,000‑kilogram result from Labuan Bajo in 2017 is substantially higher than the 1,007.54 kilograms reported for the 2018 cleanup. However, the sources do not explain whether the two events covered comparable areas, used the same collection and weighing methods, or were conducted under similar environmental conditions.

Without consistent information on site boundaries, timing, participant numbers and material classification, differences between the totals may reflect variations in event design or logistics rather than a clear change in the underlying debris load in Labuan Bajo. For a stronger baseline around this major marine tourism destination, future reporting would need systematic monitoring at defined locations, repeat sampling dates, standardised weighing procedures and breakdowns of collected material by type.

Sources

• Sapta Putra, Innitiatives in Indonesia on Reducing Marine Debris
• Dari Laut – Gerakan Bersih Pantai di Labuan Bajo
• Gerakan Bersih Pantai dan Laut Mewujudkan Nawa Cita
• Position Paper on Marine Litter and Microplastics – Indonesia