Boat made from 100% recycled plastic sets sail in Kenya

A boat, named FlipFlopi, made entirely of recycled plastic waste has set sail in Kenya.

The boat, two years in the making, symbolises the growing problem of ocean plastic pollution across the world. This comes a year after the Kenyan Government banned plastic with offenders facing imprisonment or four years of fines up to $40,000.

The group of fishermen collected 30 tonnes of waste from their beaches. This plastic is then melted down to form plastic beams which is used in place of wood to build the ship.

The boat, which set sail last week, is headed to Zanzibar and aims to spread their message along the way to the east African coast.

Ben Morrison, the founder of the FlipFlopi project, said: “We hope people around the globe are inspired by our beautiful multi-coloured boat and find their own ways to re-purpose already-used plastics.”

They have created the hashtag #PlasticRevolution in hopes to raise awareness of their important journey that will take place in the following months. Over 12 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans each year and the project aims to promote how we can reduce this.

Dipesh Pabar, Project Leader of FlipFlopi, said: “We have to end single-use plastic. Recycling is not enough, we have to put an end to single-use consumption.”

Kenya has a massive waste problem and the capital Nairobi produces around 2,400 tonnes of waste every day. As a result, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Kenya has teamed with the United Nations to create a waste management programme that will research and operationalise new recycling techniques.

Join the #PlasticRevolution today.

Photo Credit: FlipFlopi