The Plastiki Expedition is the brainchild of David de Rothschild, and the goal is audacious: to sail 12,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in a boat made entirely out of plastic bottles and recycled waste products. They plan to embark in April, carrying (among others) four scientists from the Scripps Research Institute who will study ocean acidification, marine debris, overfishing, and coral bleaching.
[Update: Read Tim Hurst's interview with Plastiki expedition leader David de Rothschild at ecopolitology, just days before the boat landed in Sydney on July 26. -Ed.]
De Rothschild and his crew of scientists will be sailing through the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating man-made disaster twice the size of Texas, located between California and Hawaii. The aim is raising the world's awareness of the plight of the environment and our role in it.
"It is our aim to captivate, inspire and activate tomorrow's environmental thinkers and doers to take positive action for our Planet and to be smart with waste, ultimately we hope to inspire people to rethink waste as a valuable resource. One person's waste could be another person's treasure."
And how green is the boat? Their craft is a catamaran made from 20,000 plastic bottles injected with CO2 packed it into pontoons. The pontoons are strapped to a rigid plastic tube running the length of the hull, and they've assembled the whole thing without glues or resins, so when the trip is over, the entire boat is recyclable.
For more details, and to sign up to receive updates on the expedition, see the Adventure Ecology Plastiki page.
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For a movie setting or documentary this would be great. Very interesting subjectimatter
I think this expedition is a grand idea and I wish the team every success in this endeavour. However I think that the fact that a S. African, Josian Heyerdahl , grandaughter of Thor Heyerdahl,( of the Kontiki expedition), is one of the team/crew on the Plastiki expedition is appropriate and historically quite significant.
canoe builders in hawai`i and other pacific islands could benefit from Plastiki technology. Living on small patches of land out here in the middle of the Pacific, we have limited space for disposal of all the plastic bottles our people seem to find necessary. If the technology proves viable, it would both help solve our landfill problems, and provide an inexpensive way to build canoes. Keep up the good work!
Keep up the good work!
I was looking to do the same thing across the Great Lakes many years ago, you beat me to it and on a grander scale. lol
I was really hoping this was going to become a reality! What’s the current status of the expedition? It still seems doable, given the right construction techniques. If the bottles used for the hull where blow-molded in a square configuration, they would have enough mating surfaces to bond with silicones, or be thermally fused together!
dd
I bet he saved all the plastic bottles from this party for his boat. He aint goin nowhere near the pacific – This thing is going to litter the ocean with 12,000 more pcs of trash
Are we having fun yet -
http://www.summerrayne.net/index.php/tag/david-de-rothschild/
scrowl down to see old david and his plastic fantastic
I’m very concerned about this voyage. If/when the boat goes down, will the Pacific be further polluted by a giant slick of mung bean husks and oily self-righteousness?
we were there for the launch of the plastiki! it was very cool to see it in person…we were also really hyped up to interview them on their vertical garden, from which they will enjoy kale and leafy greens of all kinds over their voyage. if you’re interested we uploaded it here: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/latest
it really gets your mind going on what is possible for not just the future of pollution, but the future of gardening!
You guys no nothing about our expedition
This amzing voyage will end to-morrow hopefully 26th July 2010 when the “Plastiki “sails into Sydney Harbour. The craft is making it’s way down the NSW coast after leaving Byron Bay, they should receive a great welcome.
What a voyage, I admire the crew, I know I could not have sailed in her.
Notice how you haven’t heard anyhting about this thing sailing yet..you are going to raise awareness how…with a joke of a boat? give me a break… he had to fire the two people who knew something about what a boat is and how one sails… Then he’s like(rothschild)… “now I can take sailing lessons” excuse me..? lessons for crossing the entire pacific ocean? are you joking? Taking water samples? for whom?
What a waste of energy this entire thing is! Let me guess… school children will be following and emailing questions….