To say that plastic is becoming a menace and eye-sore will be an understatement. As more and more plastics keep finding their way into water bodies, blocking drainage leading to floods, and chock the biodiversity in their natural habitats.
While a complete ban on the use of plastic is not feasible, as many industries and households regularly use them. We can, however, dispose of them more responsibly; in ways that cause little to no harm to the environment.
In Kenya, the UN Environment’s Clean Seas global program has kicked off a one of its kind campaign advocating for safe disposal and recycling of plastic. The program has given forth an all-plastic dhow, a traditional water sailing vessel that has been used by residents in the coastal strip of East Africa for centuries.
Poster Child for Plastic Recycling
The all-plastic dhow is set to leave the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu and sail 500 kilometers (310 miles) in the Indian OCean and dock in Zanzibar. The plastic dhow is the poster child of UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign for responsible handling of plastic waste and recycling.
Not to mention, it is the world’s first all-plastic dhow measuring nine meters long. It is said the dhow was made from about 10 tonnes of plastic discarded into the ocean waters. The voyage is backed by a lobby group, which states that about 12 million tonnes of plastic waste gets dumped into the ocean waters per year. It is now two years since the government of Kenya imposed a country-wide ban on single-use plastic bags.
