Our Work
Community beach clean ups and Bahari Moja center
Over the past four years, with the help of community members and conservancy rangers, 63.3 tonnes of plastic has been collected from the conservancy coastline. The collected plastic is then organized in our sorting and processing facility in Mkokoni village where it is separated into categories for efficient recycling. So far we have successfully reclaimed 6 tonnes of plastic which have been used in the construction of Eco-bricks, 4 tonnes of HDPE and PP has been sold for recycling at Flipflopi in Lamu, while women continue to make their arts and crafts out of recycled flip flops.
Eco-bricks are an affective building material made from plastic waste that is otherwise difficult to process and recycle. Collected plastic bottles are manually compacted with crushed hard plastics, micro-plastics, sacks, polythene bags and so on, making them a great way to reuse plastic waste. Within the past three years, 200 women from the community have helped to make 9,265 eco bricks which were then sold to Bahari Moja and used in the construction of a workshop, a plastic shredder house and a recycling sorting center. Eco-bricks help to support the livelihoods of women in the community while creating a solution to marine plastic pollution.
Moving Forward
1/ Collecting marine litter and plastic waste from beaches and villages.
2/ Awareness raising among local communities, children in schools and the tourist/hospitality industry on marine litter, waste management and the impact of plastic on public health.
3/ Sorting and up-cycling/recycling of collected plastic.
4/ Establishing contacts with markets for plastic recycling.
5/ Strengthening of women’s enterprise initiatives based on plastic recycling.
6/ Reinforcing an integrated waste management system for the village, and beyond.
Once fully established this village-level integrated waste management and plastic initiative will serve as a model for other coastal villages. Bahari Moja Mkokoni center was established as a pilot project with the intention of expanding to other communities in in this region, with the help of our partners, over the coming 2-3 years. Meanwhile the Mkokoni center continues to research and advance solutions, including the sourcing of a solar powered plastic shredder, allowing us to maximize on the value of transported materials. With more than half of what is collected from the marine environment still not recyclable, we are constantly searching for new innovative solutions to marine plastic pollution.