{"id":12358,"date":"2021-04-01T12:06:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T09:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=12358"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:31:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:31:27","slug":"flipflopi-shows-value-of-creating-circular-economy-for-plastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2021\/04\/01\/flipflopi-shows-value-of-creating-circular-economy-for-plastics\/","title":{"rendered":"Flipflopi shows value of creating circular economy for plastics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For much of the last three weeks, the Flipflopi, a dhow made from recycled plastic, including a helping of old sandals, has been calling into ports across Lake Victoria. The crew of the 10-metre-long vessel is on a mission to raise awareness about a tide of plastic choking Africa\u2019s biggest lake \u2013 and to demonstrate that trash can be turned into treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFlipflopi was built to show the world that it is possible to make valuable materials out of waste plastic,\u201d said Ali Skanda, co-founder of the Flipflopi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The boat\u2019s voyage, which is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), comes at a critical time for both Lake Victoria and Kenya, says Lloren\u00e7 Mil\u00e0 I Canals, the head of UNEP\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifecycleinitiative.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Life Cycle Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/plastichotspotting.lifecycleinitiative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/kenya_final_report_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A recent report by UNEP<\/a>&nbsp;found that 27 per cent of plastic waste in Kenya is collected and, of that, only 7 per cent is recycled in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problem is global. Humanity\u2019s penchant for producing cheap plastic products, using them, and then throwing them away, has created a global pollution crisis that is threatening the natural world and human livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u201cIf you accept that you can extract a resource and dispose of it, and sell it cheaply without paying the externalities, you are directly subsidizing the cost of compromising the environment,\u201d says Mil\u00e0 I Canals. \u201cWe are getting things super cheap, but only paying half the price [for them]. And that is going to cause problems now and in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Redesigning our approach to plastic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.unenvironment.org\/s3fs-public\/inline-images\/Detail_on_Flipflopi%2C_Stephanie_Foote.jpeg\" alt=\"The multi-coloured deck of the Flipflopi dhow\"\/><figcaption><em>The Flipflopi was cobbled together from waste plastic, including flip flops, which make up much of its deck and hull. Photo: UNEP \/ Stephanie Foote<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the last 50 years, plastic production has increased more than 22-fold. Humans now generate 300 million tonnes of plastic waste every year and 8 million tonnes of that ends up in oceans. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/news-and-stories\/story\/flipflopi-shows-value-creating-circular-economy-plastics\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For much of the last three weeks, the Flipflopi, a dhow made from recycled plastic, including a helping of old sandals, has been calling into ports across Lake Victoria. The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}