FlipFlopi Dhow - A traditional Dhow sailing boat constructed of local recycled waste plastic
- Submitting institution
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University of Northumbria at Newcastle
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 26719816
- Type
- L - Artefact
- Location
- Originally Lamu, Kenya now various on East African Coast
- Open access status
- -
- Month of production
- December
- Year of production
- 2017
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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10
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Annually, thousands of tonnes of plastic products are discarded and end up the Indian Ocean. Plastic waste is washed up on the beaches of Kenya in East Africa. This impacts detrimentally on both the marine ecosystem and the economy of the country where the locals rely on coastal fishing, trade and tourism for their livelihoods.
Scott-Harden worked with shoreline communities, master dhow builders, team members of the The Flipflopi Project and researchers and technicians at Northumbria University, to help develop a processing method capable of giving waste plastic a valuable second life.
As a demonstration of the potential of this new recycled material, the shoreline communities constructed a traditional dhow sailing boat entirely from plastic trash collected from Kenya’s beaches and towns.
During its 500 kilometre maiden voyage from Lamu in Kenya to Zanzibar in Tanzania, the researchers stopped at communities along the way to change mindsets about plastic waste.
This project practically demonstrates how an environmentally and economically damaging waste problem can be re envisaged as a valuable resource that supports the local and regional economy and unblocks the circular economy in the shoreline communities of East Africa.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -