Image 2.1 Padar Island, Indonesia (Photo by Rachel Ochoa on Unsplash)

Indonesia is famous for its beautiful beach, islands, vast sea, and exquisite beauty. With 17,508 islands, it is the largest archipelago in the world. Sadly, the people gifted with such a beautiful nature have a very bad habit of causing damage to the natural blessings. The destruction caused by human ranges from forest fires, exploitation of sand to the littering habits which pollute land, air and water.

As an Indonesian myself, I have been guilty of it. However, having traveled and lived in Malaysia and Singapore, it makes me question why can other countries perform better in conserving a clean and green space. Is it because of the government? Is it the culture? Or is it the lack of education and awareness on the importance of not littering as they please?

In this blog, I will explore the psychology behind the littering behavior of Indonesians. However, as Indonesia is a very big nation and I cannot go to every single city in Indonesia to find out what the people say or think about littering. I choose to only focus on my community, a small island in the Riau Islands province, called Tanjung Balai Karimun. Therefore, the results obtained from this study will not necessarily apply to all Indonesians.

I hope that this blog will help to raise awareness on the psyche behind littering, especially in Indonesia and help spark more innovative ways in how we can tackle the human condition of littering.