NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 16 – The Mombasa Plastic Prize has announced 60-innovators whose ideas have been selected to address marine plastic pollution in Mombasa.
The group, which is aged between 18 to 25 years, has been grouped into 15 teams.
While top three teams will win over Sh7 million in cash prizes, the first-place team will walk home with Sh3.5 million.
“Like other growing urban areas, plastic pollution in Mombasa is a huge challenge. Through the Mombasa County Solid Waste Management Act, which advocates for reduction, recovery and recycling of waste, the County Government is in the process of implementing policies to regulate waste management,” Mombasa Deputy Governor and CEC for Environment and Solid Waste Management Francis Foleni Thoya said.
“The youth are a critical cog in the wheel of progress towards marine plastics elimination and we laud this initiative which seeks to engage them to solve the challenge at a community level.” Thoya said.
Delivered by Challenge Works, and supported by USAID and Global Affairs Canada, the prize builds on the work of the Afri-Plastics Challenge, which aims to reduce marine plastics in sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement.
A recent study published in the journal Science in 2020 estimated that there is an equivalent of one garbage truck full of plastic dumped into the ocean each minute.
This figure could triple to nearly 29 million metric tonnes by 2040, if current production and consumption remains unchecked.
