Plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic packaging, disposable plastic. We use it every day. We throw it everywhere. Plastic pollution is a huge global problem. Every year around 11 million tonnes of plastic end up in the sea. Annually, more than one million seabirds and 100,000 mammals are killed by plastic debris. Not only does all the plastic waste lead to enormous pollution of the sea. It also imposes around $12 billion in economic costs to the world annually, according to the United Nations. This is money that includes clean-up work, losses in the fishing industry and other industries. – The sea connected us all. Today we are facing what I would call an “ocean crisis”, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. But what if the plastic waste could become part of the solution? Ahead of this year’s ocean conference in Lisbon, the UN organized a youth forum. A hundred young activists tried to find solutions for the ocean crisis the world is in. It was here that the group “Waste avengers” presented their idea. They see plastic waste as an opportunity, rather than a problem. LISBOA: The group was at the UN ocean conference in Lisbon. Here they presented their idea of using plastic. From left: Mustafa Kamal (Malaysia), Saif Eddine Laalej (Morocco), Dyna Kagendo (Kenya) and Rahma Kivugo (Kenya). Photo: Waste Vengers Plasthuset Rahma Kivugo from Kenya and Rafeah Mustafa Kamal from Malaysia are two of the members of the group. They will use the plastic we throw away to make construction parts for new houses. – We wanted to look at how we could best meet the challenge that plastic pollution poses for the sea, says Kivugo to news. – It will be able to reduce the plastic that would end up elsewhere. Plastic lasts a long time, and does not have to be replaced as often as the material they use today, says Kamal. She wants the local communities to be at the center of the solution. The starting point was the village of Lok Urai in the Sabah region of Malaysia. The village actually floats in the water. But with all the plastic pollution, the village is now bobbing in a sea of plastic. – There is a lot of plastic surrounding their houses, says Kivugo. The village of Lok Urai is surrounded by plastic waste. Photo: Waste Vengers The plastic problem Malaysia has a huge plastic problem. In 2019, the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF published a report which showed that the country is in second place on the list of annual plastic use per inhabitant. The country also has one of the largest plastic manufacturing industries globally. Worldwide, 89 percent of plastic waste found at the bottom of the ocean is single-use plastic, such as plastic bags. More than 800 species are affected by marine plastic, through ingestion, entanglement and change of habitat, according to the UN. The locals in the center Today, it is mainly mangrove wood that the locals use to build houses. It has contributed to the fact that a fifth of all mangrove forests have disappeared since 1980. Waste vengers believe that it will benefit the local community to use alternative construction materials. The group Waste Vengers walked away with the win for their idea of using plastic waste to build houses. Photo: Waste Vengers – This should be an opportunity for the local communities to use these resources, says Kivugo. – We hope they will not go back to using mangrove trees again, says Kamal. In addition, the plastic will be able to create a new source of income and new jobs for the population, according to Waste Vengers. It helped them win the ideas competition at the UN Youth Forum, which among other things gives 15,000 dollars (around 150,000 Norwegian kroner). The money will be used to realize the project. – We hope to show that this can be replicated elsewhere as well. We are excited to see how far this project can go, say Kamal and Kivugo. Plastic littering is a huge problem in Malaysia. Photo: LAI SENG SIN / Reuters
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Will use plastic waste to build houses – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
