Though little known in the surfing world, Mike O'Leary made a large impact on the travelling surfers' favourite destination - Bali.

For the first half of his working life O'Leary ran a jewellery business, however in 2005 unforeseen circumstances saw him out of work and indulging the surf travel bug through Indonesia. He first visited Bali in 1979, and he'd returned many times during the intervening years, yet with the luxury of time and slow travel O'Leary was afforded a view of the archipelago that many people had overlooked: the once idyllic islands, even the outer islands, were piling up with solid waste.

In 2007, O'Leary created R.O.L.E Foundation, the letters standing for Rivers, Ocean, Land, Ecology, and in a 2016 interview with Swellnet he explained his thinking.

"We wanted to clean up the ocean, so we followed the waste up the rivers and came to the people, especially the poor."

O'Leary was aware that pollution would soon be a huge issue for Indonesia, but not one that could be solved by surface responses such as beach clean ups - though he'd advocate for them too - while tackling the structural issues, namely politics and good governance, was impossible considering Indonesia's corruption.

"Corruption is endemic across Indonesia, and this is why the waste issue and poverty are only going to increase as they destroy all their natural resources and pocket the money that should be spent on waste management."

O'Leary reasoned that an effective, long term fix would need to address the root cause, and that in turn required understanding Indonesian culture.

"[I realised] environmental degradation went hand in hand with poverty. 80% of the poor are women and their kids. Boys are a priority in Asia so the poor will spend money and educate the boys and leave the girls behind."

"Women in general are more family-minded, which includes the need for a healthy environment for their kids."

So with a strategy in mind, ROLE Foundation opened a campus for empowering marginalised women, and shorty after another for waste management training and sustainable business development, now called the 'Zero Waste to Oceans: Education and Demonstration Center.

Together they offered up to thirty courses for locals, from permaculture, to composting organics, to cotton weaving and making natural dyes.

Mike O'Leary with some of the many women trained by ROLE Foundation

As of this year, over 1,000 previously marginalised women have found work after training at ROLE, while many thousands of schoolkids have been taught about waste.

ROLE also collaborates with the tourism and development sector, starting Project Clean Uluwatu, and putting solid waste collection systems in place. They also trained beach cleaners, and inmates in Kerobokan prison so they had jobs when they left the jail.

The programs were varied yet all of them have the central focus of reducing waste by empowering people. Mike O'Leary had set an enormous goal, one that would take many years to realise, yet recent visitors to Bali had reported seeing less waste washing up than previous years.

In 2008, a Taiwanese fishing boat drydocked at Padang Padang and Mike (at left) led the clean up operation with Tim Russo, who now co-owns Drifter Surf Shop

On the 26th November Mike O'Leary lost his battle with cancer. On the 6th December, more than 200 people gathered at the 'Zero Waste to Oceans Center' to celebrate his life and give prayer for his passing.

A ROLE Foundation spokesperson told Swellnet: "We are determined to continue Mike’s legacy. Mike has been fighting the good fight, and now it’s our turns to take on his mantle and continue moving forward. Of course, we will need a lot of help along the way but it doesn’t bother us, knowing Mike’s friends will always have our back and we know Mike is always watching over us."

"Thank you, Mike, for being a great teacher to everyone around you."

"We will make your dream of cleaner Bali and ending poverty come true."

Visit ROLE Foundation online