Employees of Ocean Sole say that flip-flops are generally collected from weekly beach cleanups and other places. At Ocean Sole, they usually weigh the material and pay collectors about 18 cents per kilogram. Then, to prepare them for carving, they are first hand-washed, one flip-flop at a time. In 2023, the company said it recycled 750,000 flip-flops. This year it aims to recycle one million. Ocean Sole is now collaborating with a design artist from Uganda who now lives in Finland and founded a studio there, in one of their biggest projects to date. Lincoln Kayiwa – who has used material such as ceramic, granite, wood, and glass — has decided to try something new with flip flops. He recently traveled to Kenya to finalize a furniture project to be launched in April during Milan Design Week — Salone del Mobile — in Italy.
SOURCE: VOA