Plastiki: setting sail on the 2 liter fleeter
June 11, 2009
This summer British explorer and environmentalist David de Rothschild will set sail with a crew of scientists from San Francisco to Sydney, covering approximately 12,000 nautical miles. His boat, Plastiki, is a high tech 60 foot research catamaran made from reused plastic bottles and recycled plastics.
Plastiki hosts solar panels and turbines to power it’s electrical needs. There is a hand operated water desalination system to supply fresh water and it uses a nitrogen-extracting waste system that composts waste and kitchen scraps into fertilizer for deposit at ports.
The goal of this expedition is to raise awareness of our ocean’s unsolicited challenge of accommodating our plastic waste, which by some estimates creates an island of debris as large as 600,000 square miles!
The boat is being built at Pier 31 in San Francisco and is scheduled to set sail this August.
Stumble it!
Tags: , David de Rothschild, Ocean, plastic boat, Plastiki, recycling, trash
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June 14th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Hello, I discover your site about couple of years ago by mistyping Gmail, since then I visit here regularly, I like your ideas. Nice job.
Regards.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Hi, Great idea to build such a boat, However looking at the toxicology side of things, it might be interesting to look at the bisphenol A content of these plastics. Bisphenol A is a chemical constituent of plastic bottles and PVC which is not static. This means it leaches chemicals into its environment, especially when it is exposed to liquid and sun. You might think lightly about this but please be aware that there is scientific evidence that this chemical acts as a female hormone (estrogen) and creates more estrogen receptors!
This is also the reason that Canada removed this chemical form baby bottles for example!
Else the trip might bring you in very close contact with your female side;-)
June 25th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Good point! BPA is a proven toxic chemical. However it should be noted that there is a strong evidence that BPA is coming in much bigger quantities from sources that are not plastic bottles. Most significantly, it leaches from the epoxy linings of *all* metal cans sold in the USA. For some reason the canning industry has averted the scrutiny given to plastic bottles…
March 23rd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
we were there for the launch of the plastiki last week! it was very cool to see it in person…
we were really hyped 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 our video 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!
April 5th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
sounds great. but that link is private!
April 6th, 2010 at 12:50 am
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April 6th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Babelfish translation of above:
“The article is good, is worth settling.”
April 6th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
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babelfish translation:
The blog is good, my blog is the baidu blog, ha-ha has free time the multi-exchanges.