Sailing across Lake Victoria to  create plastic waste awareness

The world’s first recycled plastic sailing dhow [a lateen-rigged ship with one or two masts] is hitting the Victoria waters again. 

The dhow, which is going around East Africa [in the three countries sharing Lake Victoria], reached Uganda on Thursday via Lolwe Island in Namayingo District.
The dhow named Flipflopi has been on sail since March 4, starting from Kisumu, Kenya, through Uganda and lastly to Tanzania, ending on April 1.

The expedition hopes to promote regional collaboration to address plastic pollution by bringing its message to the 10 different lake-communities in the three countries, while raising awareness and inspiring communities to adopt circular-waste solutions to beat plastic pollution.

To achieve this, the Flipflopi has been incorporated into the national water week events and the expedition has used this as the main angle in the hope of promoting circular solutions and call for an end to unnecessary single-use plastic in the region.

The official launch of the Uganda Water and Environment Week will be on March 20, at Speke Resort Munyonyo after the dhow has left Ggaba beach on the same day.
The Flipflopi, covered in 30,000 flip flops, first set sail on January 24, 2019, from Lamu Island in Kenya before crossing into northern Tanzania, with its final stop in Stone Town, Zanzibar. This trip was aimed at creating awareness on the more than 12 million tonnes of plastic dumped in the ocean every year.

Last year, as part of the Flipflopi expedition, a petition aimed at collecting one million signatures in the East African Community to advocate an end to specific single use plastic items was to be launched last year but as revealed by Shyam Radia, the partnerships director, flipflopi expedition, got slowed down by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In line with the petition, as extracted from theflipflopi.com, during the official launch of the Flipflopi Lake Victoria expedition, from Kisumu County, Kenya on March 4, Mr Cyprian Otieno Awiti, the governor of Homa Bay, referred to Lake Victoria as ‘our tea and our coffee’.

“We will be judged very harshly if we let it [Lake Victoria] go down...We need a policy that covers the entire lake region so we can be ahead of the issues that destroy the lake,” Mr Otieno said.

Ms Joyce Msuya, the deputy executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to address the myriad environmental crises, which can only be done through regional and global consensus on key issues such as single-use plastic and climate change. The flipflopi expedition has proved to be one of the solutions that could address this.”

Mr Ali Skanda, a co-founder of the Flipflopi project and builder of the world’s first recycled plastic dhow, says the dhow was built to show the world that it is possible to make valuable materials out of waste plastic, and that single-use plastic really does not make sense.

“By sailing around the lake, we aim to inspire people to create their own waste-plastic innovations and adopt circular solutions that will build greener businesses, whilst also taking plastic out of the environment. Together with communities across the Lake Victoria region, we hope to bring awareness and innovative solutions to beat pollution and support a green recovery in East Africa,” Mr Skanda said.

Flipflopi’s Lake Victoria expedition will include several stops along the lake engaging community leaders, conservationists, business leaders and policymakers, demonstrating alternate uses of waste plastic and other circular waste models, while calling for an end to single-use plastics. 

Other projects
 In Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, CIST Africa are making hand sanitisers from invasive water hyacinth.
Innovators like Sanergy in Nairobi, Kenya, The Ghetto Research Lab in Uganda are turning untreated organic waste into organic fertiliser for crops, feeds for livestock, and fuel briquettes for energy.  

Still in Uganda, the women who set up Reform Africa are turning plastic waste into sustainable and waterproof bags, whilst providing school children in rural areas with bags free of charge. 
And in Tanzania, a collection of local artisans known as ‘Made by Africraft’ are introducing youth and the unemployed to developing sustainable handicrafts to create a livelihood