Narrator: You might think you can't turn a flip-flop
into a piece of art, but you would be so, so wrong.
The team of sculptors at Ocean Sole in Nairobi, Kenya,
carves the most common footwear on the planet
into hippos, giraffes, whales, and more.
And so far, the company says it has cleaned
up around 10 million sandals
from beaches, streets, and landfills.
They cost, like, a dollar.
The problem with that is they break very easily.
So what you have is a huge menace of flip-flops everywhere.
Narrator: In fact, in some parts of the world,
flip-flops make up nearly a quarter of ocean plastic.
Can a team of hand-carving artisans make a dent
in such a huge source of litter?
We went to Nairobi to see how Ocean Sole makes art
using worldwide waste.
This style of sandal is some of the oldest footwear we have,
dating back thousands of years.
As plastic became cheaper
toward the end of the 20th century,
foam flip-flops took off.
Today, we make over 1 billion of them every year.
But most don't last long.
That means a lot of flip-flops end up
in landfills and waterways.
In Kenya, the coasts are often littered with them.
Joe: We have a network of collectors
that collect flip-flops
from our weekly beach cleanup efforts at the coast of Kenya.
When you bring the flip-flops to us,
we pay you an equivalent of 30 cents US per kilogram.
Narrator: You need to bag more than 25 pairs
to make the minimum daily wage
of a typical worker in Nairobi.
All told, collectors usually bring in about 1 ton
of flip-flops per week.
That's more than 3,000 sandals.
First, the shoes go through a thorough hand-wash
using water and detergent.
Joe: We live in a very hot climate.
It takes probably two to three hours for them to dry.
And then our artists will come to pick them
and use them to make the sculptures.
Narrator: For small and medium sculptures,
workers die-cut the flip-flops into templates,
then use a nontoxic glue to bind the shoes together.
Joe: And remember, we are using a tiny flip-flop,
so you have to build up before you're able to carve down.
Then our artists will carve them out
into a finished product.
Narrator: The company has around 90 employees.
Many of their artists used to make
traditional Kenyan wood carvings.
But that kind of work has dwindled since the early 2000s,
when Kenya scaled back logging,
which made raw materials harder to come by.
Narrator: These artists say working with the softer
material isn't too different from working with wood.
The knives and sanding tools are the same,
but you do get fewer splinters.
Narrator: For larger pieces,
artists repurpose old insulation
from shipping containers as a base
and cover them with flip-flops.
Joe: And that's why with the bigger sculptures,
you'll notice that they have a contour look,
while with the smaller ones, there's a stripy look.
Narrator: Nearly every part of the process
is done by hand,
and it can take up to three months
to complete some of the larger pieces.
Joe: The only time we use a machinery is when
we come here to sand.
So after they're done cutting with a knife,
they'll come here and sit down
and use the sanding machines to smoothen the sculptures.
I'm going to walk out of here because it's too noisy.
Narrator: The company keeps a stock of marine animals
like turtles and whales
in keeping with the clean ocean theme.
There's also safari-inspired carvings
like elephants and giraffes, which are the best sellers.
Joe: People say that they love them
because of their twisted necks.
And they also have beautiful eyelashes.
Narrator: The sandals shavings get repurposed.
We have a shredder in the back that shreds them
into smaller pieces like this.
And from here, we are able to make mattresses
that we donate to a refugee program in northern Kenya.
Narrator: Next comes a quality-control check.
The lady will make sure that, you know,
the elephant has two ears, two eyes, one tail.
If anything is not right, it's returned back to the artists,
where they will fix it.
Narrator: Then the statues are washed one more time
before being shipped to their destinations.
The plastic and rubber often used in flip-flops
poses a unique danger to marine life.
Narrator: Julie Church, the conservationist
who founded Ocean Sole,
got inspired after a visit to the Kenyan coastline in 1997.
Joe: She noticed that a lot of kids were making toys
out of discarded flip-flops.
And from there, she got an idea
that she could actually replicate the same model.
Narrator: Now, the team collects and carves
more than 700,000 flip-flops a year.
And the Pope himself was presented with an elephant carving
when he visited Kenya in 2015.
Narrator: Joe and his artists aren't the only ones
who've noticed the world's massive flip-flop problem.
Firms big and small have introduced flip-flops
made from ocean plastic
and even flip-flops made from algae
that are 100% biodegradable.
The company sells about a third of the pieces to shops,
museums, aquariums, and zoos around the world.
They're also sold online, in a store in northeast Florida,
and in gift shops around Nairobi.
Joe: We saw that there was a niche
and there was business to be made,
and that's how we started it.
Nelly: We had a rhino the same size as this lion,
and it was going for 43,200.
I'm looking for antelopes and maybe zebras
to take to my friends.
No, I had no idea about that, but they are so beautiful.
Narrator: But the combination of COVID
and the war in Ukraine has brought on new challenges.
Joe: Our hardest duty right now is actually
getting our stuff from Kenya to abroad.
The supply chain has been really messed up.
Narrator: The company told us their shipping costs
have nearly tripled.
And things take about four times as long
to get where they're going.
Occasionally, Ocean Sole takes on special projects.
Joe: In 2019, we made a life-size car
for a dealership in Alabama, United States.
So that's the biggest piece we've ever made.
We used 4,500 flip-flops,
and that project took us
about three to four months to complete.
Narrator: Joe wishes he didn't have so much material
to work with.
Flip-flop waste is a global problem.
We have received numerous inquiries from India,
Indonesia, Brazil.
They have the same problem, and they've asked us
when can we come and set up shop in their countries.
Narrator: But the Ocean Sole model
might present the most effective use of flip-flop waste.
Narrator: Until they run out of material,
artists like David will continue turning trash
into treasure, one shoe at a time.