Mombasa Plastic Prize names 60 innovators to help tackle marine plastic pollution

KENYA – The Mombasa Plastics Prize has announced 60 innovators whose ideas have been selected to tackle marine plastic pollution along the coastline of Mombasa County.

Mombasa plastic prize is a competition that seeks innovative ideas to tackle marine plastic pollution along the Kenyan coastline.

The goal of the Mombasa Plastics Prize is to raise awareness of the problem of plastics in the ocean and to support new innovations.

Launched in September 2022 and running through to May 2023, the competition’s 60 innovators finalists (aged 18-25) have been grouped into 15 teams and will now race to be one of the top three teams to win over KES 7 million of cash prizes.  The first-place team will take home KES 3.5 million.

The innovators will develop their concepts from January to May 2023. To help them build their prototypes into viable solutions, the teams will participate in a series of hack events, receive mentorship in entrepreneurship and business skills, and receive other capacity-building opportunities.

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.

Speaking at the Stakeholders’ Forum, H.E. Francis Foleni Thoya Deputy Governor and CEC for Environment and Solid Waste Management said: “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.

“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.”

USAID Kenya and East Africa Deputy Mission Director Sheila Roquitte added: “Reversing the tide on marine plastic pollution is now recognized as a global challenge that requires collective action.

“We are pleased to support efforts to spur Mombasa’s young people to take the lead in innovative solutions to prevent millions of tons of plastic from ending up in our oceans every year.”

The Mombasa Plastics Prize efforts to reduce marine plastics mismanagement align with resolutions from the fifth session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA 5.2,).

At the conference, the world’s ministers for the environment agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee with the mandate to forge an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.

This agreement on plastic pollution is the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris Accord.

The resolution calls for a treaty that promotes sustainable alternatives to plastics and fosters international collaboration on access to technology, capacity building and scientific and technical cooperation.

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