"Trash" Boat Sets Sail in Taiwan

A trimaran built in Taiwan from plastic bottles and other recycled materials sets sail for the first time. Its mission is to promote oceanic environment awareness on World Ocean Day.

Named the Polli-Boat, this trimaran is made of recycled materials bound together by a wood-plastic composite.

The main flotation system, Polli-bricks, is made of plastic bottles with strengthened polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common plastic in use today.

Its unique hexagonal shape allows the bricks to interlock strongly enough to withstand the pressure of sailing.

Waste advertising banners are used for the trimaran's sail.

[Arthur Huang, Founder and Managing Director, Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development Ltd.]:
"The concept of a polli-boat is using hundred percent trash, basically we are using this new material we are developing, it's basic organic fiber mixes trash polymer. The other is another structural material we design which are called polli-brick, using recycle PET blown into these interlocking brick, so we are using the interlocking brick as a major floatation pontoon."

Eight hundred four of these bricks were used to support the boat.

The Polli-Boat also utilizes wind and solar power, which are interchangeable in different weather conditions.

[Arthur Huang, Founder and Managing Director, Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development Ltd.]:
"It's been propelled, one by renewable resources, obviously sailing that's using wind, the other is using solar energy with we have six modules of soft solar panels and each panel is capable of generating 72 watts, and 72 watts is able to power an electric motor that powered the boat up and down the non-windy area. So the whole idea is the propel, the power system is also going to be renewable energy."

The trimaran is 23 feet long. Huang says its mission, as it sails across Taiwan, will be to promote sustainable energy and environmental awareness.

The boat-launching ceremony was accompanied by an eco-friendly creative boat competition held by the dock.

Sponsored by the National Geographic Channel in Taiwan, ten designs were selected out of almost 200 entries to compete for the most innovative boats using recycled materials.

One of these boats was shaped like the endangered black-faced spoonbill to promote wetland protection.

Another was designed to look like a floating city in an effort to raise awareness of rising sea levels and global warming.