Ilha de Moçambique gives new life to plastic.

The island of Mozambique, where the country's first capital was born some 200 years ago, is threatened by pollution caused by plastics that threaten local species and oceans already under pressure due to climate change.

Plastic pollution is a problem across the region, including Ilha de Mozambique. The local economy depends on fishing and marine resources, which is why it is threatened due to this “state of siege” where plastic is abundant and life dwindles.

The solution

A recycling workshop wants to change the course of pollution history. Implemented by the Portuguese NGO Oikos in partnership with URB-África/UCCLA, the workshop cleans and separates plastics to produce new parts. Young people from the island perfect the process and look for buyers to make the workshop self-sustaining.

“Here we clean, separate the plastics and try to produce new parts”, explains José Júnior, responsible for the recycling project.

It is a process that “will take time”, but José Júnior believes that if the solution is born in the community, it will be easier “to mobilize the population for a civic action” in which the garbage stops going to the ground and starts to be recycled “ without being a threat to the oceans”.

The word spreads and children show up at the workshop with a handful of plastics to sell: today it was Momade Mularanja, one of the recycling operators, to assess the waste and deliver 20 meticais (just under 50 euro cents) to the group that delivered them.

“There is a lot of plastic stuff on the market there. Packing of pasta, sugar, biscuits”.

“But plastic can be valued if it is removed from the environment and recycled”.

“And this participation is a sign that the population is taking ownership of the idea”.

Refers Berta Eusébio, health technician from the municipality of Ilha de Moçambique.

From the trash to the “table”

Plastic collection in Mozambique is an activity dominated mainly by young people and women and is the basis of income for many families, especially those who live in the vicinity of dumps. The Hulene dump receives around 1.000 tons of waste daily, of which approximately 120 to 160 tons are plastic, and many families have their livelihood there.

Raúl Nato occupies one of the sandy streets with a mountain of plastic, garbage that he buys to resell, helped by a small army of children and young people who turn over and sort each piece. From that and other communities, he forwards everything to Nampula, the provincial capital, 200 kilometers away, where industrial units recycle waste to manufacture new tools.

José Júnior believes that if the solution to plastic pollution is born in the community, it will be easier to “mobilize the population for a civic action” in which the garbage stops going to the ground and starts to be recycled “without being a threat to the oceans”.

Oikos proposes income alternatives, such as small food preparation businesses, and aims to implement other projects, such as mangrove honey, with beehives produced and installed by the community.

Less plastic, more fish, is the formula in which José Júnior believes to give a new healthy breath to the Island of Mozambique, whose local economy is centered on fishing and marine resources, but which faces the threat of plastics for species and the oceans already under pressure due to climate change.

Conclusion

Recycling allows us to reuse the same products a certain number of times, thus reducing the impact on our environment, converting raw and recycled material into products that can be used at home and even in other industries.

This pioneering project under way on the Island of Mozambique, could be “recycled” and transferred to other places that experience the same problem. However, like all projects at the start, its future is uncertain, only time and population will dictate whether this new formula will work.

What do you think of this project? Do you believe that it will be possible to clean up the Island of Mozambique? We want to know your opinion, do not hesitate to comment and if you liked the article, share and give a “like/like”.

Picture: © Luís Fonseca