Boat made from recycled bottles crosses Pacific

A BOAT made out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles docked in Sydney Harbour yesterday after four months crossing the Pacific Ocean on a journey meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste.

The crew of the Plastiki, a 60ft catamaran which weathered fierce storms during its 8,000 nautical miles at sea, left San Francisco on March 20, stopping at various South Pacific island nations including Kiribati and Samoa.

“This is the hardest part of the journey so far – getting it in,” expedition leader David de Rothschild yelled from the boat as the crew struggled to manoeuvre the difficult-to- steer vessel into port outside the Australian National Maritime Museum.