Government should give incentives to recyclers
The Flip Flopi Expedition from Lamu to Zanzibar using a boat made fully from recycled plastic waste collected in the Indian Ocean is inspiring. It brings hope that plastic waste can be a valuable resource if recycled.
There has been an uproar, growing by the day from the rate at which plastic pollution is happening in our environment especially in the oceans. The threat to decimate marine life that ingests plastic is real. This, therefore, calls for more drastic steps to be taken to reverse the situation.
Already Kenya is trending globally for its revolutionary banning single-use plastic carrier bags. This has greatly reduced the amount of plastic waste getting into our environment. If a report prior to the ban is anything to go by, Kenya could be saving the environment over 100 million plastic bags a year, this is commendable.
It has been observed that the biggest cause of plastic pollution is single-use plastic packaging and plastic water bottles, as a nation suffering from the effects of plastic pollution we need to step up the war on this problem. We need to rethink our use of these unsustainable products that are used once and left wrecking the environment for ages. The best way to win this war is to phase out single-use plastic such as disposable plates, straws, cups etc.
Plastic industry players must produce only quality plastic that can be recycled, they should also put more money in environmental clean-up campaigns: polluter pays principle. The government should give incentives to recyclers, such as zero-rating equipment.
As The Flipflopi Expedition kicks off, I am hopeful of a more sustainable future with even more innovative ideas.
Quality plastic deserves a second life.
First published on Daily Nation
