Colourful boat made of recycled plastic
LAMU: Kenyan islanders have built a boat made entirely of recycled plastic collected during cleanups of the ocean to highlight the growing menace of plastic waste that ends up in the sea.
Last year, the Kenyan Government imposed the world’s toughest law against plastic bags, with offenders — including producers, retailers and ordinary Kenyans — risking imprisonment for up to four years or fines of $US40,000 ($NZ61,068), in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.
Many plastic bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales.
The construction of the boat has been dubbed the FlipFlopi project because of the hundreds of recycled plastic sandals that cover the vessel.
The 9m sailing dhow, which the team built from more than 10 tonnes of plastic waste, sailed for the first time in the waters off Kenya’s Lamu Island on Saturday.
Its launch coincided with international World Cleanup Day, during which environmental groups carry out activities to tackle pollution.
The boat is a riot of colour, including red, green, blue and yellow, due to the repurposed flipflops (jandals) used to cover the hull and other parts.
‘‘We hope people around the globe are inspired by our beautiful multicoloured boat and find their own ways to repurpose alreadyused plastics,’’ FlipFlopi project founder Ben Morrison said.
Morrison, who spent a decade building a travel business focused on Africa, turned to constructing colourful boats in 2016 when he noticed alarming pollution along the Kenyan coast.
The team used Kenyan facilities and technologies to recycle the plastic waste, and was led by local boat builder Ali Abdalla Skanda.
‘‘We are proud to be a guide to the world and its inhabitants during this vital time of challenge for our ocean environment,’’ Skanda said, adding they had received support from around the world as they built the boat.
Dutch cyclists rode down the world’s first bike path made entirely of discarded plastic last week, in a move aimed at reducing the millions of tonnes wasted every year.
The 30m cycling path in the 1300yearold northern town of Zwolle contains the equivalent of 500,000 plastic bottle caps and is estimated to be two to three times more durable than traditional roads. — Reuters