UniquEco is an African solution to a global problem. It provides a way to help clean up the environment whilst generating a sustainable income for local families.
Thousands and thousands of discarded flip-flops wash up on the world's shorelines creating an environmental disaster for the marine eco-system. Not only spoiling the natural beauty of our beaches and oceans, the plastic waste is swallowed by animals, slowly and painfully suffocating them.
Working with communities around Kenya and East Africa UniquEco sensitizes them on the value of collecting discarded flip-flops and recreating them into unique jewellery, sculptures, toys, accessories and souvenirs. In so doing, they have provided these communities with a means to improve their livelihoods whilst becoming responsible for their local environment.
UniquEco has been operating for five years and has had international recognition through a variety of platforms, the most prestigious of which were as one of the 12 finalists for the BBC World Challenge in 2008 and the Energy Globe National Award winner for Sustainability in Kenya in 2010.
UniquEco is now looking to strengthen the existing facilities and operations as well as to replicate and roll out its model across the globe providing the necessary skills training and education to vulnerable groups. This expansion aims to increase exposure for UniquEco’s ecological and social message, boost employment in Africa and the rest of the world and finally, step up the rate at which we clean up our oceans.
