Load of garbage: David de Rothschild (front
right), the skipper of the Plastiki, a boat made out of 12,500
recycled plastic bottles, shakes hands with Ian Kiernan, the
founder and chairman of Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World,
in Sydney, on Monday. The Plastiki arrived in Sydney four months
after it set out from San Francisco on a journey across the Pacific
Ocean meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic
waste.
A catamaran made out of plastic bottles and captained
by an heir to a banking dynasty has arrived at Sydney's Darling
Harbour.
The Plastiki is made from 12,500 PET (polyethylene
terephthalate) bottles and sailed through the Heads earlier this
morning, docking at Darling Harbour where some curious Sydney-
siders gathered to watch its arrival.
The leader of the voyage, David de Rothschild of the banking
dynasty, has sailed about 8,000 nautical miles from San Francisco
to Sydney to make a point about the way plastic is used.
Speaking after the yacht docked, he said people need to start
reducing the amount of plastic waste in the world's oceans.
"You go a couple of hundred miles off the coast, and nobody is
claiming responsibility," he said.
"Which allows people just to do what they want, and allows them
to abuse the ocean's depth, and its so-called scale. To literally
take all of our fish resources or to dump plastic
indiscriminately."
He says he's discussed legislation on the issue with Sydney's
Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
"The Plastiki is literally a metaphorical message in a bottle
about beating waste and reducing our human fingerprints on our
natural environment," he said.
The boat's arrival was delayed slightly by storms off the
Queensland coast last week.
It will be on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum
for the next month.