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…