Today’s video on the Blue Port Project shows how youth can be engaged in the collection and processing of waste and through value addition to non-recyclable plastics into ocean pavers. Through footage from the field and interviews of key actors, the video showcases the active clean-ups undertaken by local youth and the three new waste trapping interventions that catch the waste so it can be collected easily. The video also presents the work done with the non-recyclable plastic waste; mixing the waste with crushed glass, the initiative has so far contributed to the production of 5,000 ocean pavers. Lastly, WILDOCEANS Strategic Manager shares the initiative’s long-term goal to better understand the source of this waste and to work collaboratively with the public and private sectors to identify sustainable long-term solutions. 

"The Blue Port Project was initiated in 2019, with the ultimate goal of progressively cleaning up the Durban Port and transforming the highly degraded system to a healthy functioning state. We started cleaning up the build-up of historical waste choking the port, through the employment of over 50 local youth through a local initiative called the YES programme (Youth Employment Services) who actively collected waste daily. In addition to the active clean-ups, we are trialling passive waste trapping interventions to collect the waste too.  All the waste collected is monitored and tracked so we can understand the movement of waste in the port. Since the project’s inception, we have collected over 50,000kgs of waste from Durban Port,”  Rachel Kramer, Strategic Manager, WILDOCEANS  

The Blue Port Project is one of the five circular economy initiatives IUCN supported as part of its MARPLASTICCs project working to reduce the amount of plastic leaking into the marine environment. South Africa’s Wildlands Conservation Trust (WILDTRUST) implements the initiative which aims to restore the Durban Port ecosystem to a healthy, natural state by minimising plastic waste leakage into and out of the port. A particularity of the initiative is the participation of local youth employed through a local initiative called the YES programme (Youth Employment Services). Thanks to IUCN support and the initiative’s actions, over 50,000kgs of waste has been collected from the Durban Port.

About MARPLASTICCS

In 2017, with generous support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), IUCN launched the Marine Plastics and Coastal Communities initiative (MARPLASTICCs), an initiative in Africa and Asia that works in five countries: Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The project consists of four pillars: capacity building through circular economy initiatives, production of knowledge products – including the national guidance and reports on plastic pollution hotspotting, economic and regulatory policy analysis in each country, and connecting with the private sector with a business component to help businesses identify plastic leakage in their value chains. 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. 

To learn more, please visit: https://www.iucn.org/theme/marine-and-polar/our-work/close-plastic-tap-programme/marplasticcs    

Supported by Sida

Photo: SIDA