In her native Somalia, designer Nimco Adam was known as the Queen of Tie Dye, spending hours plunging fabrics into vats of chemical dyes to use in her collections. Then, one day, she lost her sense of smell.

For much of the last three weeks, the Flipflopi, a dhow made from recycled plastic, including a helping of old sandals, has been calling into ports across Lake Victoria. The crew of the 10-metre-long vessel is on a mission to raise awareness about a tide of plastic choking Africa’s biggest lake – and to demonstrate that trash can be turned into treasure.

An estimated one-third of food produced globally is lost or wasted from farm to table. This is about 1.3 billion tonnes of food – an amount that would occupy more land surface area than China and India combined.  Instead of feeding people, it affects ecosystems and biodiversity, generating eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption gets lost or wasted – around 1.3 billion tonnes every year. This amounts to roughly US$680 billion in developed countries and US$310 billion in developing countries, with a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tonnes of CO₂, which is equivalent to 8 per cent of global greenhouse emissions.

Food loss and waste generate an estimated 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions while using land and water resources needlessly and increasing pressure on biodiversity. Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 calls for a halving of food waste at retail and household level, and a reduction of food loss across the supply chain.

Food is tricky business.

While working for the decades-old family fashion business, Sissi Chao had an experience that literally took her breath away.

“Not long after I started, I started visiting our fabric suppliers,” said Chao. “I could hardly breathe, even before I got in the building. It was awful. Every supplier was the same. And I knew that all of this pollution was going into the environment.”

NAIROBI, 30 August 2018 – With more than 150 Scouts and Guides on hand, UK Prime Minister Theresa May today announced her government’s commitment with UN Environment to inspire young people to become leaders in the fight against single-use plastic.

 With some of the world’s most beautiful beaches paying a heavy price for our plastic addiction, the travel and tourism industry is taking action to reduce its plastic footprint and encourage its customers to do the same.