Plastiki ~ The sailboat made from 12,500 plastic bottles

While getting a pedicure over the weekend and reading the latest Vogue, imagine my surprise to find this article in Vogue Magazine of all places! Being a sailing enthusiast, and someone who cares about our environment...this story caught my attention right away and I just had to share it! I give you Plastiki.

The Plastiki is sailing 11,000 miles from San Fran to Sydney, Australia to raise awareness about plastics as a pollutant and its value as a recycled product. The sailboat is made from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles and an innovative, buoyant and exceptionally strong material made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polyester resin commonly used in plastics. The mast is reclaimed aluminum irrigation pipe and the sail is handmade from recycled PET as well. Check out how beautiful a sailboat made from plastic bottles can be!

It is that spirit of ingenuity that was the inspiration for the Plastiki project. What started out as an idea to build a boat from plastic bottles to raise awareness about plastic in our oceans and landfills, grew into a movement addressing problems and discovering solutions about what we can do with all that plastic floating through our economies, resting in our landfills and bobbing on our waterways.

As if 12,500 recycled plastic bottles didn’t make the Plastiki green enough, it is also primarily powered by renewable energy. That includes solar power panels, wind turbines, trailing propeller turbines and bicycle generators. It also uses urine-to-water recovery and rain catchment systems to produce fresh water and even comes equipped with a rotating cylinder hydroponic garden.

The Plastiki has been at sail now for 75 days, and has traveled 5485 nautical miles. You can learn more about this amazing expedition, meet the crew, watch videos, and so much more at the Plastiki Website. And the coolest thing...you can even track her voyage here.

As you can see, this sailboat is not only stunning to look at, but on a very important mission. With a bright idea, a few years of work, and lots of ambition...anything is possible. I wish the crew safe travels for the rest of your trip...and a big THANK YOU for doing what you're doing! I hope your important message spreads across the globe!

Carlee

Photos via Plastiki on Flickr Info via Solar News