On March 20th, a 60-foot boat constructed of plastic soda bottles disembarked from the San Francisco bay area on an 11,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean. Aptly named Plastiki, the boat was the brainchild of banking heir and environmentalist, David de Rothschild. Four months later, on July 26th, the catarman finally docked at Sydney’s Darling Harbor, ending its first expedition.

Made entirely out of recycled materials, the Plastiki’s voyage served to highlight the benefits of recycling. On its website, ThePlastiki.com, visitors were asked to pledge their support for beating waste, putting up the marker at 12,500, which is the exact number of 2-liter plastic bottles used to provide buoyancy to the boat.

It wasn’t just the boat that consisted of environment friendly products. A host of green gadgets accompanied the crew during its voyage. The boat was fueled by flexible solar panels and wind turbines. It also housed a vacuum water evaporator for desalination and a urine-to-water recovery system.

Throughout its journey, Rothschild and the boat’s crew continually posted updates on their blog and various social media sites, drawing hundreds of people to its cause. During the past 130 days, the crew got its fair share of exciting moments, including a violent wind storm that gusted at 63 knots and threatened to blow the boat off course.

David de Rothschild also runs Adventure Ecology, an educational organization that also aims to spread environmental awareness. He believes the Plastiki’s trans-Pacific voyage can open people’s eyes to the wonders of recycling. Indeed, who would ever think that a vessel that is made from recycled plastic and aluminum, and glued together using organic glue made from cashews and sugar cane, would withstand a strong wind storm in the high seas? The inspiration for the Plastiki was drawn from Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 expedition aboard the Kon-Tiki, a vessel made as a reproduction of an Incan raft. Heyerdahl’s grandson Olav Heyerdahl, was part of the Plastiki’s crew.

More than anything, I think that the project is about ambition and ingenuity. In an environmentally friendly way, it proves that great things can be done with enough hard work and innovation, even when materials are limited.