Our co-founders are on Today in Seychelles!
A chat with ... Zara Pardiwalla and Karine Rassool, Co-Founders of The Ocean Project Seychelles
"Everyone wants a clean beach, but very few are willing to clean it"
Zara and Karine from The Ocean Project Seychelles explain their latest initiatives to reduce plastics at the Seychelles Trading Company, the use of drinking straws, and the worrying trends they observe during their monthly beach clean ups.
1. The most recent initiative is the online petition requesting that STC reduce the amount of plastic used for vegetable and fruit packaging. What pushed you and the team to start this?
Despite the government ban on plastic bags last year, plastic bags are still being used by STC to pack individual items of fruit and veg, with staff refusing to sell the produce (citing “management policy”) if it isn’t placed in a STC plastic bag. Whilst certain plastic bags were exempted from the ban for health and safety reasons e.g. those used to pack perishables such as meat, poultry, and fish, it is not immediately clear why plastic bags are still being used for fruit and veg. The law appears to exempt plastic bags for repacking whole and portioned fruit and veg “as clients need to see their quality”. This justification does not hold in STC where most of the fruit and veg are displayed in loose form (or anywhere else for that matter!). What better way for clients to see the quality of the produce than to pick up individual items from the display bins and examine these themselves?
The tragedy is that whilst the community has become more conscious shoppers and may carry with them their own reusable bags, including those specifically designed for fruit and veg so they can be separately weighed, STC continuously refuses, without a reasonable explanation, to allow shoppers to purchase fruit and veg in their own reusable bags or containers. Some shoppers have even taken to social media to recount how STC refused to let them use old STC plastic bags which they saved from previous fruit and veg shops. This simply defies logic.
To make matters worse, STC seemingly oblivious to the environmental concerns caused by plastic, has also adopted a new fad of placing (usually a couple but no more than four) fruit or veg items in trays and wrapping it in Clingfilm. This excessive and wasteful use of plastic packaging defies the reasoning behind the government’s ban of plastic bags, as well as other single-use plastic items such as cups, plates, cutlery, etc. Being the largest and most popular supermarket on the island, as well as completely owned by Government, STC should be taking the lead in minimising plastic bags and plastic packaging in its stores to only that which is strictly necessary.
2. Once the petition is signed, what is the next step is bringing a real change? Will you meet with the CEO?
The next step would to meet with the CEO of STC and other relevant parties such as the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Change to understand the reasoning behind the STC policy and to find an alternative to the continued use of plastic bags and plastic packaging for fruit and veg. Given that STC were one of the first supermarkets to make available reusable bags, even before the Government ban came into effect, we feel that we could have a constructive conversation with STC and come up with a solution for minimising plastic in their stores that takes into account any concerns they may have.
3. There has been an increase in beach cleanups as well, with the most recent one held on Praslin. What do you find when you go out – are our beaches as clean as we think?
Our coastal clean ups are monthly clean ups of beaches and/or rivers across various islands. To date we have put on 16 beach clean ups (9 since registration of The Ocean Project Seychelles) on Mahe and other islands. A substantial amount of rubbish is collected at every clean up, even on islands such as Cousin and Silhouette that are less frequented. The sad and worrisome reality is no matter how isolated or deserted or significant a beach is, it is never safe from the harmful impacts of marine debris. Whilst it would appear that the rubbish on those islands are brought in by the tides (with foreign labels), the rubbish collected on Mahe seemingly originates from beach-goers and picnickers.
4. What are the main components of the trash found on the beaches? Plastic, or other things?
A combination of items are collected on our clean ups, ranging from plastic to glass to metal items. The main items collected are plastic bottles, plastic bottle tops, plastic utensils, plastic straws, and hard and soft plastic bits, cigarette butts, metal beverage cans, glass bottles, clothing, and slippers. It is not uncommon to collect over 100 plastic bottles and 100 glass bottles. A substantial number of fishing nets weighing over 25kg were collected most recently on our Praslin clean up. These also consist a significant part of the marine plastics problem. We’ve also collected odd items such as fans, tyres, bedding, clothes, a deep freezer, and political banners.
5. The Last Straw campaign also seeks to reduce the amount of straws used. Why is this important?
Plastic straws were not covered in the Government ban yet data shows that plastic straws are amongst the top ten items collected on coastal clean ups worldwide. Our own clean ups in Seychelles have shown the prevalence of plastic straws on Seychelles’ beaches and rivers. It is well documented that plastic straws have been found stuck in sea turtles’ noses and in seabirds’ stomachs – proving to be deadly. Like most other plastic, plastic straws do not biodegrade and will remain on the planet forever, yet each plastic straw is used for approximately 20 minutes only before it is discarded! An incredibly short lifespan for an unnecessary item that is clogging up our oceans and pilling up our landfills. If plastic continues to make its way to our oceans, it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
6. How will this idea be implemented in Seychelles?
The Last Straw campaign will engage venues and individuals to reduce the use of plastic straws in Seychelles. We have just secured funding and are working on the final stages of the campaign and plan to launch in the next couple of months! #WatchThisSpace #TheLastStrawSey
7. Do you feel enough is being done at the moment from relevant authorities when it comes to curbing trash creation and management?
The amount of rubbish collected on our beach clean ups suggest that littering is a major problem right now in Seychelles, though the responsibility cannot rest fully on Government. Part of the motivation behind setting up The Ocean Project Seychelles was to engage all sectors of the community to take action against this problem and the problem of this rubbish clogging up our oceans and pilling up our landfills. That being said, a government waste management policy consisting of waste segregation and recycling would provide the framework for the community to engage in the more responsible disposal of items that may otherwise find their way to our oceans or pile up our landfills. Until then, there is no point separating certain items if recycling facilities do not exist. For instance, a large number of glass bottles are collected on our clean ups which could have otherwise been recycled if recycling facilities existed.
8. What is one big misconception about protecting the environment which you feel is pertinent in Seychelles?
One misconception is possibly that it is only government’s responsibility to protect the environment and that persons should be employed to clean up litter after us. To what extend the government policy of employing persons to clean up our roads and beaches is responsible for the laissez-faire littering attitude is unknown, though presumably money would have been better spent tackling the issue of littering through better enforcement of our laws and education campaigns right from the very start.
9. What is your personal motivator in pushing for environmental initiatives through The Ocean Project?
Marine debris in general, and plastics in particular, have been described as some of the greatest environmental concerns of our times, along with climate change, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity. Land-based sources (including waste from coastal landfills, discharge into rivers and waterways, discharge of untreated municipal sewage and storm water, industrial facilities, tourism and beach-going leftovers) are estimated to account for 80% of the total input of plastics entering the oceans yearly. This amount is estimated to be in the range of 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons. Incidents of marine mammals, reptiles, birds and fish dying from plastic ingestion or entanglement have been widely reported. Furthermore, research has confirmed that many organisms ingest microplastics (<5mm sized pieces of plastics) and such could act as a mechanism for the transport of contaminants up the food chain. In this manner, seafood can become contaminated, particularly in higher-level predators such as tuna and swordfish, causing concern for human health. Aside from these harmful impacts, debris consists visual pollution that is potentially detrimental to the ‘pristine’ slogan used to advertise Seychelles as a tourism destination. We are conscious that most of our country’s wealth is generated from our environment. Our pristine beaches and lush forests are what attract our tourists and our fishing industry depends on a healthy ocean. As we get on with our daily lives, it is easy to disregard the impacts of marine debris on marine wildlife and biodiversity, but will it be easy to ignore the negative consequences that marine debris will have on our economy if the problem remains unabated?
We have received our share of criticism for our efforts, especially with regards to beach clean ups not being enough to address the littering problem and that there are a myriad of other more pressing issues that exist in our society. While we acknowledge that there are many valid issues that need tackling in Seychelles, this is the cause we are passionate about and have decided to act on. To do something, even if it appears little, is better than doing nothing at all. And whilst clean beaches and oceans start at home, until everyone realises this, we need to clean up the aftermath of our overconsumption and throwaway behaviour.
10. What message do you have for Seychellois who wish to make a difference in their own way for the environment, but don’t know where to begin?
Whilst we fully acknowledge that the problem extends beyond Seychelles and that global action is needed to control this form of pollution, we are also conscious that the majority of the items collected during our clean ups appear to originate in Seychelles; making it in part a local problem that can be tackled locally.
In the end, everyone wants a clean beach, but very few are willing to give up their time to clean it. What we need now more than ever is action, if we are to stand any chance of preserving the environment for our children, grandchildren and future generations.
Don’t think any act is too small. If everyone thought the same thing, nothing would ever change! You don’t have to start big, but start somewhere. You never know who you might be inspiring!