If you think that a handful of empty PET plastic bottles is of little use, you are wrong. Using them as the main raw material, David de Rothschild is building a boat with which he intends to travel from San Francisco (USA) to Sydney (Australia) . The expedition of The Plastiki , as the small sailboat has been baptized, will begin in 49 days .
The two Plastiki hulls will be filled with between 12,000 and 16,000 PET plastic bottles previously pressurized using dry ice powder. The structure will support the weight of four crew members. In addition to being made of 90 percent recycled material, Plastiki incorporates two wind turbines and several solar panels that will charge the batteries necessary for the operation on board of several laptops, a GPS and a satellite phone.
When the expedition reaches its destination, it is planned to “break” the boat and recycle the bottles. “They can become a jacket, a bag, more bottles,” explains Rothschild, who with his initiative wants to remind the world that plastic is “infinitely recyclable .”
