Bad Slippahs
Rubbah Slippahs
You know them as flip-flops. We call them slippers (pronounced sli-PAHs) in Hawaii. Sometimes rubbah slippahs. I love ‘em and wear them all the time. But it turns out that the slippah trade is not really good for the world. They can be made anywhere, but the largest producers of flip-flops are China and Hong Kong, followed by Vietnam and Malaysia. Trade statistics are hard to come by, but plastic footwear is clearly being sold around the world in huge volumes.
The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation did a study that analyzed the plastics and other chemicals found in the average humble flip-flop. They only analyzed 27 slippahs, but found that 17 were made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the toughest, least recyclable plastic. Many also contained heavy metals, added to harden and prolong the life of the plastic – not what you want in the ocean. The worst one they found was made in South Africa, but the sample was small, so that may not mean much.
The New York Times ran an article about vast tons of flip-flops washing up along east African shorelines, finding discarded or lost shoes there from as far away as Indonesia. Friends who work in marine research in Hawaii tell me that thousands of slippahs find their way into the North Pacific Gyre, a mid-ocean garbage patch that collects over a huge area north of Hawaii. I don’t think anybody has analyzed where they come from, but the Gyre collects trash from all around the Pacific.
The plastic shoes tested by the Swedes were manufactured in the Philippines, China, South Africa, Lesotho, Brazil, Taiwan and Uganda, and included global brands such as Crocs, Bata, Björn Borg and Reebok, among others. The Swedes recommended tougher legislation on chemical content, environmental labeling for plastic shoes, and that consumers demand PVC-free footwear. The last may be the most effective. Legislation and labeling don’t matter once the slippahs enter the oceans.
I used to have slippahs just like the ones in the picture. If paddling practice went late, I could find ‘em in the dark.
