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Plastiki: the ecoadventure

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In 2006, a group of young adventure seekers headed by David de Rothschild came up with a crazy idea: to create a completely recyclable boat that would be capable of crossing the ocean. The result was Plastiki: a catamaran measuring 18.28 metres in length and 6.30 metres in width, with hulls made of an incredible 12,500 recyclable plastic bottles. But how, you ask, did they build it? The Plastiki team found the solution to the technological challenge in 2008 by using srPET, a material similar to fibreglass but made entirely of recyclable plastic. The bottles were filled with dry ice and then sealed and heated, to turn the dry ice into carbon dioxide gas and pressurise the bottles, making them rigid. On March 20, 2010, Plastiki and its crew finally set sail from San Francisco, beginning an 8,300 mile, 129 day adventure that would take them to Sydney, Australia.

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