A boat made of plastic bottles designed by Exploration Architecture is nearing the end of its journey across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney to highlight pollution of the seas. The hull of the boat, called Plastiki, comprises whole plastic bottles filled with pressurised air. These bundles of bottles are wrapped in a shell of fibreglass-like material, itself made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. Commissioned by David de Rothschild of Adventure Ecology, the vessel is designed to be recyclable at the end of its journey, produce all its own energy and create no pollution. 12,500 bottles were used to make the hull – about the same number consumed in the USA every 8.3 seconds.
The boat sailed through the ominously named Pacific Garbage Patches – two vast areas of floating pollution which represent a powerful metaphor for the way we treat the oceans. We behave as if the sea has a limitless capacity to absorb our pollution and as long as it is out of sight we’re not bothered.