Photo: ©Jan & Oscar Foundation
As part of the Capacity pillar, MARPLASTICCs has been supporting existing, small-scale circular economy initiatives that aim to reduce the amount of plastic leaking into the marine environment. MARPLASTICCs has provided a financial grant of up to USD 50,000, in each target country.
"Circular Economy looks beyond the current take-make-waste extractive industrial model, a circular economy aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive society-wide benefits. It entails gradually decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, and designing waste out of the system. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy resources, the circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital."
Below are the grant awardees, alphabetically arranged by country:
Kenya
Lead organisation: Watamu Marine Association (WMA)
Project title: From Wastes to Products: Maximising impacts of community-based plastic enterprise in Watamu, Kenya
Photo: IUCN
Through this project, WMA seeks to enhance reuse, refusal, recycling, and up-cycling of plastic waste materials; further develop community-based small business enterprises and increase employment opportunities and income benefits related to circular economy activities; strengthen circular economy partnerships among civil society and the private and public sectors, and improve information sharing within these partnerships. WMA also aims to replicate the project model in other coastal resort towns.
The project has been in operation since 2009 and is well-established, thus, IUCN support would mostly be used to maximise its potential. Industrial-scale plastic waste management equipment would allow WMA to directly intervene in reducing plastic leakage arising from improper disposal; meetings and workshops for stakeholders would enhance circular economy partnerships; marketing materials would raise public awareness; and workshops on plastic waste’s versatility would build the capacity of artists and artisans to use it creatively.
Watch the video snapshot of the Circular Economy project in Kenya, click here.
Mozambique
Lead organisation: 3R-Reduzir, Reusar e Reciclar Limitada
Project title: Establishing plastic value chains in Vilanculos, Mozambique
Photo: IUCN
The objective of the project is to establish a financially sustainable and environmentally sound value chain for plastic waste in Vilanculos, Mozambique, to reduce plastic leakage in Bazaruto Archipelago National Park (BANP).
IUCN grant will help 3R establish four Ecopoints in Vilanculos where plastic waste materials will be collected at cost from waste pickers, micro-enterprises, and local residents and organisations. Funds will be used to hire Ecopoint staff, purchase equipment, and build local capacity and awareness on waste sorting.
Watch the video snapshot of the Circular Economy project in Mozambique, click here.
South Africa
Lead organisation: Wildlands Conservation Trust (WildTrust)
Project title: A Circular Economy Approach to Plastic Leakage in the Durban Port
Photo: IUCN
This project seeks to return the Durban Port ecosystem to a healthy, natural state by minimising plastic waste leakage into and out of the port. Through the Adopt-A-River project, focused on the key rivers and canals that empty into the port, WildTrust has already collected 43,000 kg of waste (almost half of which was plastic) from January to May 2019.
IUCN grant will help WildTrust enhance the Blue Port project, through which 16,000 kg of waste (7,400 kg of plastic) has already been removed from Durban Port. Planned implementation strategies include innovative waste-trapping at key locations; the development of an upcycled Ocean Brick that combines unrecyclable plastic waste with sand and glass; and the development of a mobile app that the Blue Port team can use to share waste collection data.
Watch the video snapshot of the Circular Economy project in South Africa, click here.
Watch the full Eastern and Southern Africa Circular Economy Video, click here.
Thailand
Lead organisation: Jan and Oscar Foundation
Project title: Moken Guardians of the Sea: Safeguarding the Oceans from Plastics
The Moken are a semi-nomadic ethnic minority whose fishing-based livelihoods are now threatened by marine litter. Through this project, the Jan and Oscar Foundation will build the capacity of Moken fishermen to recycle or upcycle plastic waste collected from rivers and canals flowing into the Andaman Sea; set up a community recycling enterprise in Ranong; and promote waste separation in public schools and Moken villages.
IUCN support will be used to enhance these educational programmes, as well as to hire Moken staff, provide apprenticeship grants, and establish Ranong’s first upcycling/recycling facility that will focus primarily on collecting plastics for upcycling into new fashion items such as clothes, bags, and other fashion accessories or useful products
Watch the video snapshot of the Circular Economy project in Thailand, click here.
Viet Nam
Lead organisation: Evergreen Labs Advisory Company Limited
Project title: ReForm Cham Island Landfill Project
The aim of the ReForm project is to transform low-value, generally unrecycled plastics into marketable products, and in doing so, to stop plastic leakage, create jobs for low-income workers, promote innovation, and provide alternatives (such as wood replacements) to existing products. Following the successful implementation of an urban ReForm center inDa Nang, a pilot model for small and medium-sized landfills and value-added waste management system will be set up on Cham Island. The ReForm centre will be operated primarily by waste-pickers and managed through multisectoral collaboration.
With the support of IUCN, a Cham Island ReForm facility will be fully built and equipped. The grant will also cover the facility’s operational costs over the course of three months, allowing ReForm to train low-income waste pickers and build their earning capacity.
Watch the video snapshot of the Circular Economy project in Viet Nam, click here.
