This is an impression of Plastiki, a 60ft catamaran that is currently being built in the US for a voyage this summer from San Francisco to Sydney.

It’s the brainchild of British banking heir and adventurer David de Rothschild, who has founded Adventure Ecology to promote smarter ways of using recycled resources. He calls it ‘a better Planet 2.0 way of living’.

Plastiki, so-named because it was partly inspired by Thor Heyderdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition, is being made of 12,000 two-litre plastic water bottles bound together in a retaining net and fitted over a plywood frame. Each bottle is filled with 12 grammes of dry ice to make the structure stronger.

The boat will be fully fitted out below and I’m told that it will include – get this – a composting toilet and sustainable vegetable garden.