Community Perceptions of Plastic Waste across the Lamu Archipelago: An Overview

The seas around the Lamu Archipelago are highly polluted due to the nature of the currents. Recent macroplastic and microplastic studies led by the Flipflopi Project, CORDIO, Watamu Marine Association, University of Dar es Salaam, and the University of Portsmouth, have shown concentrations of plastic waste across mangroves, beaches, and seawater, some of which has global origins. Furthermore, within the last three decades, single-use packaging and plastic products have been introduced, and while the demand for these types of products has grown, the waste management system has not. As Lamu remains isolated from the mainland and other major towns, it has been cut off from any large-scale operations to dispose of recyclable waste due to the cost of transport. To compound the challenges existing within the archipelago, is the limited quantitative and qualitative data to shed light on the quantities of plastic waste, the perception of communities towards the growing waste, the common methods of disposal of waste within the community, and the potential for community engagement to tackle this growing problem.