An extraordinary bumblebee

Since the end of May, an extraordinary bumblebee can be found at the Biobest stand in the World Horti Centre in Naaldwijk (NL). You won’t see this variant in the field, simply because it cannot fit in a bumblebee hive. This exceptional bumblebee is in fact made out of approximately 350 recycled flip-flops. Flip-flops are the most commonly worn footwear in the world. Inexpensive, they are immensely popular in the less developed parts of the world, where due to less well-developed recycling systems, huge numbers ultimately, and unfortunately, end up in the ocean becoming part of the ‘plastic soup’.

In the end, many of these flip-flops wash up on the beaches of Kenya and other places. Ocean Sole gives them a new life by clearing them from the beaches, cleaning them and transforming them into works of art. The goal of this organisation is two-fold. Firstly, to clean the ocean and the surrounding beaches, and secondly, to provide work for some 70 artists and others. By commissioning this bumblebee, Biobest is making a small contribution to this initiative to help make the planet more sustainable.