Message in bottles

On July 27, a catamaran called Plastiki, made of 12,500 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, arrived at Sydney's Darling Harbour.

David de Rothschild sailed 8,000 nautical miles from San Francisco to Sydney on Plastiki to make a point on the way plastic is used.

"You go a couple of hundred miles off the coast, and nobody is claiming responsibility for the plastic," he said. "This allows people to do what they want and abuse the ocean. To literally take all of our fish resources or to dump plastic indiscriminately." He talked of discussing legislation on the issue with Sydney's Mayor Clover Moore.