The First plastic boat which has been deployed Lambu landing Site on Lake Victoria in Masaka district
Dozens of fishermen have thronged Lambu Landing Site in Masaka district to catch a glimpse of the first locally made plastic boat which was unveiled to them.
The boat which is 100 per cent plastic was moulded from recycled plastic waste materials collected by volunteers of the Masaka Recycling Initiative (MRI), a partnership of the Masaka Catholic Diocese and a voluntary environmental conservation foundation -Eco-Brixs that operates in the area.
Reverend Father James Ssendege, the MRI Board Chairperson says the boat is one of the various products that they are making from recycled plastics as a measure to stop its uncontrolled disposal in the community.
He explains they realized that the Lake Victoria shorelines and landing sites are accumulating a lot of plastic waste materials that are littered by the local communities and coming from the neighbouring East African Community member states, which prompted them to develop a product that directly relates with the fishing communities such that they can appreciate the relevance of proper management of plastics.
Fr. Ssendege says that besides using the boat to inspire proper management of plastic waste, it is also going to be used as a sailing dhow that will be used in collecting all floating wastes from the different landing sites to common collection centres for eventual recycling.
Andrew Bownds, the Executive Director of Eco-Brix says that the plastic boat is the first prototype to be developed in Uganda and the second in the East African region. He adds that it emerges out of the idea of turning plastic recycling into a business model that can fetch an income to the volunteers.
He says that the invention is helping them transform the seemingly unexploited recycling sector into a valuable venture that can provide employment, health, and environmental conservation benefits to the community and is optimistic that the boat is going to encourage more people along the Victoria shorelines to participate in the collection of the waste materials.
Joseph Banagoba, one of the Fishermen at Lambu Landing Site says that the innovation has produced a more durable boat compared to wood that lasts a maximum of three years. According to him, the available fishing boats are made from timber that is usually imported from the Democratic Republic of at a huge cost
Leopold Ssebuuma and Musa Kayemba, both fishermen at the site told URN that they are now looking forward to more plastic boats which they believe are more user-friendly compared to the wooden vessels they are apparently using.
Ssebuuma observes that the plastic boasts will save the fishermen from routine maintenance of the fishing vessel which is required with the wooden.
The 540-kilogram boat was moulded from 17,000 plastic bottles. According to figures at the Eco-brixs in the last five tears, they have collected 547 tons of plastic waste materials from the nine districts of the greater Masaka sub-region, of which 57 tons was from the different landing sites within the Masaka district.’
-URN
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