Plastiki the plastic bottle boat

David de Rothschild was disgusted by the amount of waste plastic in the world so he started to build a boat made of plastic bottles called the Plastiki.

in 2006 David de Rothschild became the youngest British person to reach both the north and south poles. Through his experiences as an explorer David has seen the effects of global warming. David and his team want to draw the world’s attention to the state of the oceans, in particular the amount of plastic floating around in it.

The Plastiki boat is made from 12,500 used plastic bottles and another recycled plastic material. The sail is made from material formed from plastic and glue made from cashew nuts and sugar cane helps hold everything together.

The team plan to set off in the next few weeks, depending on weather conditions, and sail 11,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney. They will check out damaged coral reefs and survey plastic pollution in the water. Scientists think that every year at least one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die when they get tangled up in or eat plastic.

The expedition is expected to take three months so we’ll check in with the Plastiki team while they’re at sea to see how they’re doing. 

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