Lessons of waste, redemption on the Plastiki

Next month, a yacht built entirely from reclaimed PET plastic bottles will set sail on an 11,000-mile voyage from San Francisco to Australia. We've written about the Plastiki before, and this week USA Today has a fascinating article about the high-profile trans-Pacific voyage.

Of course, crossing the Pacific is a secondary goal of eco-adventurer David de Rothschild and the crew of the Plastiki. The real point of this voyage to raise awareness about plastic waste and to force a sea change in the way consumers and manufacturers deal with such waste.

The Plastiki's voyage, which will be chronicled online by the crew and which and is already garnering worldwide media attention, will focus attention on one of the most damning environmental threats: how plastic is choking the planet. The Plastiki's message is one of reduce, reuse and recycle. It takes solid aim at the throwaway nature of our society.

Their point: If the world continues to create 260 million tons of plastic products each year, it's critical to find ways to reuse the non-biodegradable material.

The vessel itself is a clever example of how plastic can be reused. At the same time, the ship is a study in excess; thousands of plastic bottles comprise the pontoons that will keep the Plastiki afloat. And in that imagery, we have cautionary tale of how many plastic bottles are needlessly produced and consumed every year. And then there is the recycling message. The Plastiki will sail through the Pacific's Great Garbage Patch, "a massive, floating plastic junkyard in the middle of the ocean that is the direct result of mankind's polluting ways," as USA Today describes it.

We'll be watching along with the world, as the Plastiki undertakes it three-month voyage/environmental mission. Many eyes will be on the strange-looking boat. But in this post "Balloon Boy" climate, many people may view de Rothschild's adventure as a nothing more than an attention-grabbing, publicity stunt when really they should be heeding his message:

[Said] Jo Royle, who signed on to skipper Plastiki after a sailing trip through Antarctica revealed garbage in that icy paradise: "David can help people see we're all environmentalists and should make do with less."

Royle has just nailed Plastiki's mission. Much like [Thor] Heyerdahl's bold Kon-Tiki voyage made people rethink historical tenets, so de Rothschild has a chance to capture hearts and headlines with his crusade to reassess the way we deal with plastic waste.

"Our boat is just one giant floating water bottle," he says.

This simple image, de Rothschild adds, could be enough to shift people's attitudes toward recycling and the environment.