Trash for rice: Bali recycling scheme gives families pandemic lifeline

Silver craftsman, I Wayan Adi Semara Putra, 34, carries a plastic sack with plastic waste to exchange it for rice at a collection place in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia, on Dec 22, 2021. - Reuters

GIANYAR, Indonesia (Reuters): For Balinese souvenir shop owner I Kadek Rai Nama Rupat, the past two years during the Covid-19 pandemic have been a fight for survival.

The pandemic has prevented the foreign tourists that usually throng businesses like his on the Indonesian resort island from coming and rising food prices have compounded the economic pain.