Mambo!
We are Ali Sami, Sam, Sophie, and Lise. We’ve been in Zanzibar for a few weeks now and have already experienced a lot. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by heavy rain showers, but what really stood out to us was the enormous amount of plastic waste on the streets. This is due to a lack of awareness and the absence of a proper waste management system on the island.
At Chako, we got to work on our plastic upcycling project. We use different machines to first clean the plastic, a task carried out by the artisans. The plastic is then shredded into small pieces and melted using our new machine, turning it into strips of various widths and colors. These strips can be used for weaving. This way, we upcycle plastic waste and create new jobs for unemployed women on the island.
So far, we’ve completed three prototypes, which we shared with a professional weaver who gave us valuable feedback. The next step is to provide our plastic strips to several professional weavers to identify the best ones who can train our current artisans, as well as future artisans, in weaving. After that, we will work with these weavers to create final products.
Every day, tourists and groups visit Chako’s workshop. Everyone is very enthusiastic about our project, which gives us great confidence that these upcycled products will sell well!
