Made from 12,500 reclaimed plastic soda bottles, the Plastiki sailboat is about to reach Sydney on the final leg of its 11,000 nautical mile trans-Pacific voyage.

Having sailed 115 days and more than 2,700 hours to date, the 60-foot catamaran set out from San Francisco on March 20 in an effort to raise awareness about the health of oceans, heavily polluted by plastic debris and at risk from over-fishing, and to showcase waste as a resource and demonstrate real world solutions through design and construction.

The plastic bottles provide 68 percent of the boat’s buoyancy, with the super structure being comprised of a unique recyclable plastic material made from self reinforcing PET. The mast is made of reclaimed aluminum irrigation pipe and the sail is hand-made from recycled PET cloth.

The boat also utilizes secondary bonding made from a newly developed cashew nut and sugar cane organic glue and features renewable energy systems including solar panels, wind and trailing propeller turbines, bicycle generators, a urine to water recovery and rain water catchment system and a hydroponic rotating cylinder garden.

The Plastiki project began more than four years ago, dreamed up by British adventurer and ecologist David de Rothschild, heir to the Rothschild family banking fortune. The idea was spawned from David’s reading of a UNEP report called “Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas” and was inspired by Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 expedition, The Kon-Tiki.

The Plastiki expedition began with the question: “could a fully recyclable performing vessel be engineered almost entirely out of reclaimed plastic bottles, cross the Pacific whilst demonstrating real world solutions?” If the team reaches Sydney as expected, it appears the answer is “yes.”

Don’t let the fact the boat is made of reclaimed plastic materials lead you to thinking it’s not a sturdy, sea-worthy vessel. During testing, the plastic bottles were stress tested to ensure their strength under pressure. They held up even when ran over by a car!

The boat has crossed through the North Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating trash pile estimated to be twice the size of Texas, and has made a stop on the island of Kiribati on the way to Sydney.

Run your hand over it, and it feels similar to your cotton summer scarf. Slip it over your head, and it fits just like that $200 blouse from Donna Karan. Pair it with your favorite go-to jeans, and it makes for the perfect casual outfit.

It’s plastic, but you would never know it.

While synthetic fabrics – polyester, nylon and acrylic – are standards in the industry, some designers have found sustainable ways to use the materials. But at this point, we are still sending more than 70 percent of plastics to landfills.

According to FutureFashion, “Fashion uses more water than any industry other than agriculture. At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles.” It makes sense to incorporate our everyday plastics into fashion, cutting down on the use of virgin materials.

But recycled fashion doesn’t have to look like a high school art project or an unflattering baby doll dress that resembles a burlap sack, and creating clothing from trash is no longer just a challenge for Project Runway contestants. In fact, September’s New York Fashion Week proved recycled plastics are not only stylish, but they’re actually wearable.

Plastics Gone Vogue

Bodkin designer Eviana Hartman used recycled polyester and organic cottons in her spring 2010 line. Using the streamlined theme of air and water, the breezy, casual collection was filled with mix-and-match separates that could be easily incorporated into any wardrobe.

The collection was voted “Most Wearable” at Fashion Week by Ecouterre. Bodkin is also a recent winner of the Ecco Domani fashion award. The designer uses post-consumer recycled products, vintage fabrics and organic dyes sourced from all over the world.

But plastics didn’t stop in New York. Similar trends are popping up in spring collections in London, Milan and Paris as designers are utilizing pre-consumer waste to create everything from patent-leather shoes to crisp blazers.

“More and more designers are working with plastics as they look at lower impact methods of producing clothing, so I think that [the usage of these materials] will increase,” says Kristen Amato, fashion consultant for Gen Art a leading arts and entertainment organization dedicated to showcasing emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists.

Amato says even some luxury designers – Vivienne Westwood and Alexandre Herchcovitch – have embraced the plastics trend. We can expect to see recycled materials, especially plastics, grow and expand to a variety of collections for fall 2010.

bule ocean with so many trash

       As is known to all, plastic causes great effect on environment, it takes hundred years for plastic to decay, at the process of decaying, it emits toxic gas which is bad for people’s health. But now, at the shadow of global economy crisis, everything is changing, these days, people are talking about approval of using plastic bags for free.

      The author of a recent Forum piece (”Unemployment takes a toll,” July 11) wrote: “Congress must continue to give the unemployed the safety net to survive until the economy turns around. It also needs to develop jobs programs that help put people back to work, get people spending and get the economy growing again.”

     This also applies to our state Legislature.

     The state budget crisis has hurt all of us. Public safety jobs are being cut, school budgets slashed, essential services chopped — with no end in sight. There are REAL problems affecting residents across the state — the latest data reveal a staggering 12.2 percent unemployment rate in Solano County.
     Despite these daunting issues, the state Senate may soon decide whether to pass a bill that would punish Californians who don’t bring enough reusable bags when shopping. AB 1998 would ban grocery stores from giving out plastic bags and require customers to pay at least five cents — maybe more — for each paper bag.
    The end result is a nearly $1 billion hidden grocery tax, when simply paying for food is a struggle for many, and a new needless state bureaucracy at a cost of $1.5 million to implement this program.
    Furthermore, passage of this bill could result in the elimination of jobs for nearly 500 California workers who make bags. Right now we need to create jobs, not destroy them; we need to help taxpayers keep every nickel and dime, not nickel and dime them while they’re shopping for food.
    There’s a better way to reduce litter and disposal of plastic bags, and that is through recycling programs.

     Just four years ago, California created a statewide plastic bag recycling infrastructure by requiring large grocers to take back plastic bags. This simple action also provided shoppers a convenient place to bring plastic dry-cleaning bags, newspaper bags and other product wraps. These recycled plastics can be made into products like durable decks, city park benches and recycled plastic bags.
     Recycling programs work – in California and across the country. Plastic bag recycling programs are growing rapidly. There are now more than 15,000 recycling bins for plastic bags at stores across our nation.
    More than 832 million pounds of bags and wraps were recycled in 2008, a 28 percent increase since 2005.
    AB 1998 would dismantle this convenient consumer recycling infrastructure in California.
    As you consider this issue, keep in mind that this year, the Vacaville Police Department has to cut nearly $1 million from its budget. A budget cut of this size takes uniforms off the streets. But fear not — AB 1998 will create its own force of “bag police.” They won’t keep our streets safe, but they’ll be sure to fine any mom and pop store giving out grocery store bags — up to $10,000. It’s just another layer of misguided government bureaucracy.
    We need jobs. We need teachers and real police. We need a state budget. Lawmakers should focus on these urgent problems facing Californians, not “paper or plastic?”

what a pity, I am gonna be banned by you.

   As is known from news, Monte Sant’Angelo Mercy College in Sydney’s north has banned the sale of plastic water bottles, and it maybe cause nation wide imitation of this activity.

   The canteen will no longer stock plastic water bottles and the school also spent $7,500 installing water bubblers for the students to use instead.

   The initiative will be launched today by sailor activist David de Rothschild who this week completed a voyage across the Pacific Ocean on the Plastiki, a boat made from recycled bottles.

   Year 12 student Claudia Saunders says she hopes the ban will do more than reduce the school’s consumption of plastic bottles.

   “It’s also about promoting it to Monte girls and getting the awareness out there how unnecessary these bottles are and the damage they can cause to the environment, both in their production and then in their disposal,” she said.

   The school’s effort has been hailed as a model that can be rolled out across the country.

   Jon Dee, founder of the environment group Do Something, says the campaign will significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste at the school.

  “We’ll have 1,100 girls at this school who won’t have bottled water,” he said.

   “Now if they can do that at Monte Sant’ Angelo there’s no reason why other schools couldn’t follow this example.

   “It will set a great environmental role model for the kids but it will also show kids you can help the environment and you can save money at the same time.”

   Since we can protect the environment, meanwhile, we can save some money, why shouldn’t we promote this good deed? The answer is obvious, we should protect the environment and use the money which we save from this to buy something which is worthy.

The following steps are the steps for recycling plastic:

First thing for you to know

 Call your county’s Department of Public Works or recycling center to determine what type of plastic to recycle and where to take it. Also call 1-800-CLEANUP for state recycling information.

Easy plastics for recycle
The easiest and most common plastics to recycle are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) and are assigned the number 1. Examples include soda and water bottles, medicine containers, and many other common consumer product containers. Once it has been processed by a recycling facility, PETE can become fiberfill for winter coats, sleeping bags and life jackets. It can also be used to make bean bags, rope, car bumpers, tennis ball felt, combs, cassette tapes, sails for boats, furniture and, of course, other plastic bottles.

Number 2 is reserved for high-density polyethylene plastics. These include heavier containers that hold laundry detergents and bleaches as well as milk, shampoo and motor oil. Plastic labeled with the number 2 is often recycled into toys, piping, plastic lumber and rope. Like plastic designated number 1, it is widely accepted at recycling centers.

Plastics less commonly recycled
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly used in plastic pipes, shower curtains, medical tubing, vinyl dashboards, and even some baby bottle nipples, gets number 3. Like numbers 4 (wrapping films, grocery and sandwich bags, and other containers made of low-density polyethylene) and 5 (polypropylene containers used in Tupperware, among other products), few municipal recycling centers will accept it due to its very low rate of recyclability.

Another useful plastic for recycling
Number 6 goes on polystyrene (Styrofoam) items such as coffee cups, disposable cutlery, meat trays, packing “peanuts” and insulation. It is widely accepted because it can be reprocessed into many items, including cassette tapes and rigid foam insulation.

Hardest plastics for recycling
Last, but far from least, are items crafted from various combinations of the aforementioned plastics or from unique plastic formulations not commonly used. Usually imprinted with a number 7 or nothing at all, these plastics are the most difficult to recycle and, as such, are seldom collected or recycled. More ambitious consumers can feel free to return such items to the product manufacturers to avoid contributing to the local waste stream, and instead put the burden on the makers to recycle or dispose of the items properly.

Check out local requires

Find out if your community requires you to remove labels from plastic containers before you recycle them.

Final step

Crush plastic containers to save space in your recycling bin.

California is one step closer to a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags.

Last Friday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB 1998 and will be voted upon this Friday by the full Assembly.

If passed, the law would go into effect Jan. 1, 2012. Gov. Schwarzenegger has shown support for the move.

San Francisco made history when it became the first city to officially ban plastic shopping bags in 2007, making it a pioneer of the outlawing of common to-go plastic products.

Other cities in the Bay Area, including Oakland and Palo Alto, shortly followed suit.

However, if passed, AB 1998 would be the first statewide ban in history. Supporters say the bill would support the state’s efforts in reducing its waste.

“This legislation starts breaking our addiction to single-use plastic packaging, which has gotten completely out of control,” Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, told the Los Angeles Times.

However, the American Chemistry Council opposes the bill, citing economic reasons. The organization says the move would cost consumers as much as $1 billion in new charges on grocery bags and could lead to job losses across the state.

“The last thing Californians need is something that acts just like a $1 billion tax added to their grocery bills – but that’s what this legislation does,” said Tim Shestek of the American Chemistry Council in Sacramento, an organization that represents plastic bag makers.

“Here we are cutting back on schools, police and health care, so it’s hard to imagine California creating a new million-dollar bureaucracy to monitor how people take home their groceries.”

A heated topic plastic bans may be, both sides agree that recycling and consumer education is the best way to handle plastics in the waste stream.

Due to their light weight, most curbside programs do not accept plastic bags. However, most grocery stores throughout the U.S. now offer plastic bag recycling.

According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, each year, Californians use 19 billion plastic bags, only 5 percent of which are recycled. The average California resident uses 600 plastic bags per year.

The average American office worker goes through around 500 disposable cups over the course of 12 months. Americans even toss out enough paper and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times.

Much for the common disposable dinnerware, such as plastic utensils, cups and plates, is made from plastic #6. It’s the same resin used to make polystyrene foam, but because these materials are not extremely lightweight, they are easier to recycle.

We are avid touters of using your reusable dinnerware for your next shindig, but if your guest list exceeds your supply and disposable is your only option, look for dishware made from plastics that are recyclable in your curbside program or dishes that can be washed and reused.

Preserve tableware and utensils are a great choice. Made from 100 percent recycled materials, Preserve makes an entire line of dishes, cups and utensils that are sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of everyday use. They have two versions of their tableware, one for regular use in your home and one that more closely resembles the lighter make of disposables for easy transport. Both are dishwasher and microwave safe.

The companies claim using a BASF Ultramid resin instead of aluminum cut the weight of the part by 50 percent.

The cross beam was developed by Hannover-Germany based ContiTech Vibration Control GmbH, in cooperation with BMW and BASF. Just a few days after series production started, the beam landed a first-place Innovation Award conferred by the Federation of Reinforced Plastics (AVK).

The transmission cross beam is a structural component designed to cope with high loads. It contributes to the overall rigidity of the vehicle and must withstand the forces and torque generated by the engine-transmission unit, as well as high temperatures resulting from proximity to the exhaust system.

ContiTech produces the component from “exceptionally strong” nylon by injection moulding. With the help of BASF’s Ultrasim development instrument, it was possible to reduce the weight by 2.2 pounds compared to the same component made of metal — cited as highly significant in lightweight car construction. In addition to weight reduction, development focused on optimizing vehicle acoustics and crash safety.

1. Peek into a pre-threaded hole to make sure there’s no debris, like sawdust, fouling the threads. If there is any debris, use hooked tweezers to pick large pieces out, or close your eyes and blow a quick puff of air into the hole to get rid of small debris.
2. Place the tip of the screw into the hole and gently thread it into the hole, turning it clockwise with your fingers. If you feel it catching but then it’s suddenly hard to turn, you may have gotten the threads crossed; twist it out counter-clockwise, then try twisting it in again until you feel it settling in smoothly.
3. Use a screwdriver to tighten the screw to the desired torque. If you use an electric screwdriver, work cautiously and conservatively to be sure you do not overtorque the screw.

1. Decide whether an allergy to live evergreen trees prevents you from bringing one into your home. An plastic Christmas tree doesn’t trigger allergic reactions.
2. Consider whether you want to spend money every year on a live tree or whether you prefer to buy an plastic Christmas tree that you can use year after year.
3. Assess the size of the space where you will display a tree. Plastic Christmas trees are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, whereas live trees are often around the same height–about six feet tall–unless you go to a tree farm and cut one down yourself.
4. Think about upkeep of a Christmas tree. A live tree will drop its needles when it begins to dry out and the acts of bringing it into the house and back outside again can create a mess, with needles everywhere. An plastic Christmasl tree doesn’t leave a mess and should be easy to put up and take down.
5. Judge whether you have the storage space to keep an plastic Christmas tree packed away all year long. A live tree takes up no storage space and can be recycled.