Plastic Boat

Such a creative and sensible idea to make fishing boats with plastic bottles. 

Madiba & Nature volunteers have gathered to pick up thousands of plastic bottles near Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, to use those bottles for what they call ecological canoes. The boats could help not just the environment, but the local community as well. In a video, Ismael said there’s a great need for fishing boats in his area, and the plastic bottle boats could meet that need. Local fisherman Emmanuel Japa said at first they thought the plastic bottle boats were a joke, but it turns out the crafts are actually strong and seaworthy. Ismael also said plastic bottles clogging their waterways have led to flooding in the local area.

As such ideas must necessarily be, it appears simple and obvious once someone thinks to implement it. And that is the beauty of it perhaps. A local problem (though in the case of plastic bottles the problem is far from local) addressed ingeniously by local talent. Unfortunately, such a boat will likely not find many takers in the first world even if meant for recreational use. Its safety features would be questioned to begin with and every reason would be found to disfavor it over traditional products that have been mainstays in the marketplace. It would be a hobbyist thing on its best day. But when you bring such a solution to a poor community with very few options, it can gain a lot of traction, bring meaningful and lasting change. It would not be surprising this idea spurred many others that similarly solve local challenges for the community.