Plastiki sets sail

Bottle boat heads from San Francisco across the Pacific to highlight global message about waste

Environmentalist David de Rothschild and his crew finally set sail last week on the Plastiki, a unique 60ft catamaran engineered from approximately 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles.

An ‘off-the-grid’ boat relying primarily on renewable energy systems, the Plastiki has an unenviable challenge ahead: to journey more than 11,000 nautical miles whilst drawing attention to the health of the oceans, in particular the colossal amounts of plastic debris that have built up.

The Plastiki began her adventure nearly four years ago after taking inspiration from a report issued by UNEP called ‘Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas’ and Thor Heyerdahl’s epic 1947 expedition, The Kon-Tiki.

De Rothschild wants to highlight the fact that waste can be transformed into a valuable resource, in turn helping to lessen our plastic fingerprints on the world’s oceans.

The crew includes Jo Royle, David Thomson, Olav Heyerdahl along with National Geographic filmmaker Max Jourdan and Myoo Media’s Vern Moen.

For more information, visit: www.theplastiki.com