Walking the line between HCD and SCBT: marine waste-art

The rising threat of marine waste, particularly plastic, presents a significant environmental, social, and economic crisis for coastal communities and tourism sectors. Despite a variety of regulatory efforts, workable long-term solutions have remained elusive. This paper introduces a new framework that merges Human Centred Design (HCD) with Sustainable Community-Based Tourism (SCBT) to address these complex challenges. By employing the empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, testing, and implementation stages of HCD alongside SCBT’s triple focus on economic, environmental and social sustainability, this approach offers a well-rounded, community driven framework. A synergy table illustrates how HCD principles align with SCBT objectives, offering strategies to transform marine waste into community assets such as Waste-Art. This integration underscores how local strategies can promote environmental stewardship, economic growth, and community engagement as a comprehensive solution to marine waste.