Page 22 - Plastics News February 2019

FeAtures

The Flipflopi endeavor for Plastic waste

The Flipflopi, a nine-metre-long dhow, built from 10 tonnes of plastic waste, is on voyage - to reach out to
global communities

t was 6pm when an unusual rainbow-coloured boat, The Flipflopi, built from 10 tonnes of plastic waste, was
Imade of recycled plastic waste and discarded flip-flops first launched late last year. Ben Moriso, co-founder
gathered from beaches and roadsides, dropped anchor began working on the project in 2016 "to transmit the
off the beach at Mtwapa, near Kenya's coastal city of message about the impact that plastic is having on marine
Mombasa. ecosystems, how this affects us, and most important of
all, what we can do about it". Researchers estimate the
The nine-metre-long dhow, "The Flipflopi", was sailing
south along East Africa's coast to raise awareness of the world has produced more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic
threat plastics pose to the oceans, said chief boat-builder since the early 1950s, according to UN Environment. Of all
and captain Ali Skanda. Beaches and marine ecosystems plastic waste, just nine per cent has been recycled. About
have been badly affected by plastics, Skanda said, adding 12 per cent was incinerated, while the rest ended up in
it was time to change local people's mindset on how they dumps, landfill or loose in the environment. In partnership
handle and dispose of waste. "That's why we started this with the Flipflopi-Clean Seas campaign, the Mombasa
voyage - to reach out to communities in East Africa, and County government committed to help keep plastic waste
also globally," he said. The boat's voyage took it 500 off its beaches by closing its biggest dump, Kibarani, and
kilometres south from Lamu island in Kenya to Zanzibar turning it into a natural space by planting trees.
in neighbouring Tanzania over two weeks starting on UN Environment has been working with the local
23rd January. government to clean up and rehabilitate the Kibarani
dump, which has emptied waste into the ocean for 50
years, according to Mombasa County Governor Hassan Joho
saying , “the area's importance as a tourism destination
meant there was a need for proper waste management. We
have serious historical damages to our environment that
we need to deal with - the amount of plastics waste that
was here was unbelievable. We decided to change this,
[but] Kibarani is just a fraction," he said, adding Mombasa
needs $US20 million each financial year to efficiently
manage its waste.”
Still, "we are happy we are on the right track", he added.
Along the way the boat made six stops, with its crew Africa faces a significant funding gap - of up to $US40
joining local people, schools and officials for beach clean- billion - in tackling waste management, said Juliette Biao
ups and events highlighting the effect of plastic pollution Koudenoukpo, the director of UN Environment's Africa
on the seas.The motivation for boat-builder and fisherman office. The continent's municipal solid waste generation,
Hassan Mohammed, 56, was seeing how much has changed currently 125 million tonnes annually, is expected to
in recent decades.
double by 2025 due to changing purchasing habits and
Until 20 years ago, the shore at Mtwapa was free of rapid urbanisation, she added. "We are struggling in Africa
pollution, he said. But tourism has meant increased use because waste management isn't our priority," she said.
of plastic carrier bags and bottles, which has harmed the "Waste is a threat to biodiversity, [but] it's possible to
ocean. "When I started fishing, the only people around transform this threat into opportunity - we can recycle
were fishermen and fisherwomen - and we used woven and create jobs."
baskets and no plastics," he said. "Nowadays, many people
have started local businesses, like hotels along the shores, The effort to clean up Kibarani has already changed
and contributed to a huge mess - as you can see, the place the attitude of 24-year-old dump-site worker Lilian
is littered with plastic bottles," he added. Ayuma. "Since I started working here I have become

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