Bottle-boat completes voyage

A boat made out of 12,500 plastic water bottles successfully ended its four-month journey from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia, at the end of July, according to The Associated Press.

The Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran constructed largely out of water bottles held together by an organic glue made of sugar cane and cashews (and a few other materials such as a recycled aluminum mast), was sailed by a crew of six to gain awareness of the threat plastic wastes pose to the environment. The boat, which was powered by sails, solar power and windmills, stopped at island nations in the South Pacific along its way, including Kiribati and Samoa.

The boat was the brainchild of David de Rothschild, a British adventurer and environmentalist who organized the expedition after reading about the perils of plastic waste. It left San Francisco on March 20.