Greener by Design: Rethinking Waste with Plastiki, the Plastic Boat

Published May 19, 2009

“Nobody is as smart as everybody. We have all the solutions we need. Yes our problems are big. But if we’re all working together, now that becomes a movement,” David de Rothschild explained at today’s Greener by Design conference.

De Rothschild is the founder of Adventure Ecology and his latest adventure is inspired by the mass of plastic accumulated in our oceans, the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating landfill located between California and Hawaii that’s twice the size of Texas. His goal is to build a boat entirely of plastic bottles and recycled waste products, called Plastiki, and sail it 12,000 miles from San Francisco to Sydney departing in August 2009 as an environmental statement.

De Rothschild has built a team he calls the Smart Collective to combat inefficient design. He brought together a group of intelligent folks who had never built a boat before to design the Plastiki. And it hasn’t been easy. He related that slick plans did not translate into a slick boat so easily, hence they’ve had some delays getting the ship to launch. They were initially inspired by a pomegranate - the design of Plastiki attempts to recreate the way a compilation of pomegranate seeds can constitute something as solid but buoyant as a pomegranate. One major difficulty was achieving a solid structure for the boat, until they found a material called SRPET (Self reinforcing polyethylene terephthalate) which is a clean, recyclable plastic that is half the weight of fiberglass and three quarters the strength.

David de Rothschild speaks at Greener by Design 2009. © Della Calfee.

When finished, the Plastiki will be made of 12,500 2-liter plastic bottles collected by Waste Management, will weigh 9 tons, and will have a crew of six. The Plastiki will have a composting toilet, onboard renewable energy and a garden. “People are so shocked that we’re going to grow food on the boat,” de Rothschild mused.

In line with cradle to cradle thinking, when the voyage is done, the team plans to upcycle the boat.

A plastic boat won’t solve all our problems, but de Rothschild is attempting to spark conversations about rethinking waste. He aims to showcase a solution, and encourage people to rethink waste as a resource.

“This is the hundredth year of plastic,” de Rothschild pointed out. “Plastic is an amazing material and it is still misunderstood. I’m trying to get people to think about plastic as part of the solution.”

De Rothschild explained that we consume 200 billion liters of bottled water per year, and only one in five bottles is actually recycled. That comprises a $100 billion market. If we could only divert 15 percent of that revenue we could provide everyone on planet with fresh clean drinking water.

In parallel with the sailing of Plastiki, de Rothschild has launched a Smart Art Trash into Treasure competition (www.smartartcompetition.com) to inspire innovative solutions to waste. What’s your idea?

What I'd really like to see...

Anonymous, May 26, 2009 - 07:53

Is an international cleanup plan for the Pacific Garbage Patch based on shared responsibility and solutions for a global problem. What a mess, what a shame that gyre of plastic debris is going to keep sitting there breaking down and killing marine life for decades. Prevent the sources of pollution that caused it, and devote the resources to trawl the junk out of there and -- yes, RECYCLE or upcycle the plastic. Just like the mountain climbers cleaning up the mess along the Everest trails, it can be done if everyone helps.

I am so tired of people who don't get it, that roadside litter passes through storm drains, into the rivers and then to the oceans. Keep the local watersheds cleaned up and the source is fixed.

Plastiki-ans need acknowledge the JUNK RAFT that sailed in 2008 for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

Wishing you fair winds...

Anonymous, May 21, 2009 - 21:33

Good luck with your journey. I appreciate the attention you are bringing to plastics and recycling. We all need to think of ideas that will reduce plastic waste, and how we can make plastics more sustainable. We have created a biodegradable plastic bottle that will biodegrade in a landfill and produce biogases that can be used for making clean energy. Good luck.....

Max

Sacrificing one cause for another

Anonymous, May 20, 2009 - 06:12

This would be great if he wasn't pressuring the bottle with dry ice just to get it to float! So you can add the volume of all the carbon dioxide in the bottles to the carbon footprint, as well as the energy required to freeze it before putting it in the bottles...

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