For the better part of the last month the Flipflopi, a boat cobbled together from recycled plastic, has been circumnavigating Africa’s biggest lake, braving high winds and torrential rain to shine a light on pollution.
Last week, that journey came to an end as the 10-metre-long vessel pulled into Mwanza, Tanzania, the last stop on a three-country, 850-kilometre voyage across Lake Victoria.
During the trip, which was sponsored in part by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Flipflopi’s crew met with politicians, activists and thousands of everyday people to raise awareness about a torrent of plastic swamping Lake Victoria.
“I’m proud to see how this campaign has brought stakeholders and decision makers together, furthering the regional conversation on plastic pollution,” said the Flipflopi’s captain, Ali Skanda. “Now’s the time to make the necessary changes to stem the tide of plastic for good.
Many communities around Lake Victoria, whose shores are home to 40 million people, have long struggled with how to dispose of plastic bags, bottles and utensils. Many of those single-use plastics, along with a growing number of disposable masks and gloves, end up in Lake Victoria. Over time, that rubbish can break down and find its way into the food chain. The true extent of plastic pollution remains unknown, but one study found that 20 per cent of fish in Lake Victoria had plastic in their system.
“There is clear evidence that the Lake Victoria ecosystem is under tremendous pressure. The lake plays a central role in sustaining the livelihood of communities in the East African region. I call upon the governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to foster their cooperation to accelerate restoration of this vital natural resource. UNEP and its partners stand ready to provide the necessary support to make this happen,” said Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, UNEP Director and Regional Representative for Africa.
The Flipflopi – which gets its name from the multi-coloured flip flops cladding its hull and deck – is designed to show communities what can be done with plastic that would otherwise be tossed away. Tipping the scales at seven tonnes, its keel, ribs and other structural elements are made from plastic bags and bottles scoured from the beaches of Lamu, Kenya, where it was built.
Earlier this year, the Flipflopi was strapped to a truck and hauled 500km inland to Kisumu, Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria. Its crew, a mix of sailors, scientists and environmental activists, set sail on March 8, a journey that would at times be perilous. Lake Victoria, which is 70,000 square kilometres, is notorious for severe weather and claims the lives of up to 5,000 people a year, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
While it was spared the worst the lake has to offer, the Flipflopi was buffeted by gusting winds and shrouded in rain so heavy, the crew couldn’t see their support boat just a few hundred metres away, said Dipesh Pabari, the co-founder of the Flipflopi project.
Still, the boat held up admirably, said Pabari, and over the next four weeks, it would stop in communities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, preaching the value of eliminating single-use plastics. During the trip, several lakeside counties in Kenya committed to banning single-use plastics. Pabari said the Flipflopi was also a potent symbol to communities about what can be done with recycled plastic.
“If you can build a boat out of your toothbrush, it shows what an amazing product it is.” But in too many places, he says, plastic has been put to “bad use.”
The situation in Lake Victoria is emblematic of a larger plastic pollution crisis gripping the planet, say experts. Globally, one million plastic drinking bottles are bought every minute and 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used every year. Only a fraction of that plastic is recycled and 8 million tonnes of it ends up in the world’s oceans annually.
There is no “silver bullet” to end plastic pollution, said Heidi Savelli-Soderberg, who leads UNEP’s marine litter team. She said countries need to come together to tackle what is a transboundary crisis.
“We are not able to manage the plastic waste that we have. It’s only going to get worse without urgent and ambitious action.”
The Flipflopi expedition was supported by the governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the French Development Agency, UN Live, private sector entities, including Waterbus, and UNEP’s Clean Seas Campaign.
For UNEP, the project is part of an effort to reduce pollution in Lake Victoria, the primary source of the Nile River, a waterway that supports hundreds of millions of people.
After docking in Mwanza, Tanzania, the Flipflopi was trucked 1,500 kilometres to Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar Es Salaam, a journey over bad roads that Pabari said gave him “a few gray hairs.”
The boat will stay there for a series of events before its final sail along the Indian Ocean coast to its home port of Lamu.
