A boat with a difference
The Plastiki looks similar to many other boats or yachts in Sydney harbour.
It's eighteen metres long,six metres wide and it weighs about twelve thousand kilogrammes.
It carries a crew of six people and has an average speed of five knots.
However,once you get near to the Plastiki you realise there's big difference.
It's made of twelve thousand five hundred reclaimed plastic bottles.
How did the Plastiki begin?
One day, the environmentalist David De Rothscild was reading some information about all the plastic in the seas and oceans.
He couldn't believe what he was reading.
For example, humans throw away four out of every five plastic bottles they use and plastic rubbish causes about eighty per cent of the pollution in the sea.
Soon afterwards,Rothschild decided he wanted to help the fight against pollution in the sea.
TO create publicity for the problem,he started building a boat mage of plastic bottles.
Designing the Plastiki
As well as building the boat with rrecycled plastic,it was important for him to make the boat environmentally-friendly and user-friendly.
The boat uses renewable energy sources including wind power and solar energy.
The crew can make meals with vegetables from the small garden at the back of the boat.
They can take a break from work and get some exercise by using the special exercise bicycle.
The energy from the bike provides power for the boat's computers.
And if anyone needs to take a shower,the boat's shower uses saltwater from the sea.