Plastic Bottle Catamaran Completes Epic Pacific Crossing
The Plastiki—David de Rothschild’s recycled-bottle sailboat—safely reached Sydney harbor this week, marking the end of a unique 8,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean.
The Plastiki—David de Rothschild’s recycled-bottle sailboat—safely reached Sydney harbor yesterday, marking the end of a unique 128-day, 8,000-mile (12,900-kilometer) journey across the Pacific Ocean.
(See more photos of the boat's voyage.)
The catamaran was built with recycled and repurposed plastics, primarily 12,500 empty PET water bottles. Its unprecedented design had to be seaworthy, but the primary purpose was to show how smarter use of plastics can turn today’s trash into a viable, and valuable resource.
"Plastic is not the enemy,” said expedition leader and Adventure Ecology founder de Rothschild in the days just before Plastiki’s March 20 launch. “But it's our understanding of disposal and reuse that's to blame."
After departing San Francisco, Plastiki’s crew spent just over four months at sea
