On this episode of the Plasticology Project Podcast I speak with Mutumba Faisal. Mutumba is based in Uganda, on the shores of the mighty Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, the world’s largest tropical lake, and the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by area. The lake supports a fishing industry that helps feed a population of around 40 million. Mutumba has taken on the enormous task of trying to repair the degraded environment of Lake Victoria and create a better future for this environmental asset. Mutumba spends his days leading the Uganda Junior Rangers travelling to some of the 985 islands of Lake Victoria collecting discarded fishing nets, ghost nets and plastics. Mutumba’s mission is to educate the next generation of Ugandans and encourage them to love the environment. I caught up with Mutumba just after he stepped off a boat, returning from a morning trying to resolve one of the other great challenges of the lake – invasive weeds. We join the conversation as Mutumba explains to me how these invasive weeds are impacting the lake, and how plastic is a part of this story.
