Whenever I see a single slipper that someone presumably lost at the beach, I laugh at the thought of them having to comically hobble with their sole (haha, punny) remaining slipper back home or to their hotel. Fingers crossed that this never happens to you or me.
But jokes aside, what happens to all these lost flip flops? Unfortunately, flip flops are common plastic pollutants floating in ocean garbage patches and buried in the seafloor. The problem is much bigger than just a couple of slippers accidentally getting pulled away from beachgoers by the sea. Flip flops actually comprise a significant proportion of debris in the ocean. This is mainly the result of poorly managed waste purposely discarded from beaches and boats and drifting to sea via rivers and the like.
Flip flops, like other litter, are harmful to the marine ecosystem. For example, they are mediums for bacterial growth and they impede the mobility of crabs and turtles by cluttering the beach. A lot of flips flops are also made from toxic and non-recyclable plastic. Ocean and beach clean-ups are therefore crucial to remove these environmental hazards.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the company ‘Ocean Sole’ that collects these flip flops during beach clean-ups, gathering as many as they can to turn them into upcycled art sculptures. Located in Kenya, Ocean Sole collects about 47,000kg of discarded flip flops annually, with a whopping 750,000 flip flops upcycled in 2021. The local artists clean, compress sand and carve the flip flops into colourful sculptures, creating a distinctive art style that is such a joy to look at. These are some of my favourite sculptures:
It’s amazing how our grubby footwear can be turned into such beautiful artwork, and for a great cause. Though inspirational, there is also a need for more environmentally friendly materials to be used in flip flop production. However, I do not foresee this problem being solved easily. The sheer quantity of discarded flip flops is attributed to them being cheap, albeit with a short 2-year lifespan on average. Flip flops are accessible and affordable footwear because the materials used allow them to be cheaply produced and sold. Alternative sustainable materials may be too expensive to be a good replacement for the current non-biodegradable materials used by the masses.
Nevertheless, Ocean Sole is a creative example of how upcycling can address the pressing issue of marine debris polluting our oceans.
Watch this video on how Ocean Sole operates:
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/12/africa/flip-flops-pollution-ocean-sole/index.html
https://oceansoleonline.com/pages/about-us
