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‘Plastic Odyssey’ boat arrives in Beirut as part of international anti-plastic initiative

The French initiative, which centers on a roving boat lab, has two main focuses: plastic recycling technologies and raising awareness.

‘Plastic Odyssey’ boat arrives in Beirut as part of international anti-plastic initiative

The Plastic Odyssey boat in Zaitunay Bay. (Credit: Lyana Alameddine/L'Orient-Le Jour)

BEIRUT — Just off Beirut’s trendy Zaitunay Bay waterfront, an unusual 40-meter boat has attracted the curiosity of visitors over the past few days.

The vessel is called the Plastic Odyssey, and is part of a French ecological initiative founded in 2016. It set sail from Marseille earlier this month and made its first stop in Beirut, arriving last week.

According to Plastic Odyssey’s website, the voyage's mission is to reduce ocean plastic pollution. Every minute 20 tons of plastic waste are dumped into Earth’s oceans and then become for the most part irretrievable, according to estimates by Plastic Oddysey.

The Plastic Odyssey initiative has two main focuses, according to founder and representative Simon Bernard. The first is “clean up the past” by recycling existing plastic before it ends up in the oceans, using low-tech technologies that don’t require special skills. The second is to “build the future,” by awareness among the communities most affected by plastic pollution.

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Equipment aboard the Plastic Odyssey boat allows workers to produce tiles, paving stones, pipes and even fuel using recycled plastic.

In order to carry out the Lebanese part of its initiative, Plastic Odyssey selected eight local environmentally conscious entrepreneurs who will meet with crew members for a training program starting Monday.

The program “allows us to discover different [recycling] machines and learn how to use them, and to share our knowledge about the ones we already have. It’s a give and take,” Ralph Bourji, chief operating officer of Plastic Lab, a Lebanese start-up that recycles plastic to create building materials and furniture, told L’Orient-Le Jour.

A ‘very local scale’

The Plastic Odyssey initiative, founded by Simon Bernard and Alexandre Dechelotte, two sailors, and Bob Vrignaud, an engineer, seeks to build a network of actors worldwide.

Although Lebanon is the first stop on this journey, the boat has 29 other destinations throughout the Mediterranean over a planned three-year period.

“We are trying to work on a very local scale by relying on partners and entrepreneurs who will benefit from the knowledge of plastic recycling and machine training,” Bernard told L’Orient-Le Jour.

Equipment aboard the boat that can be used to recycle plastic into tiles, pipes and other usable objects. (Credit: Lyana Alameddine/L'Orient-Le Jour)

“There were contacts with people like Ziad Abi Chaker, with whom we have been in contact for several years already, who is already active in this field and who can share his experience with others,” Bernard added. “The goal is to allow the creation of as many mini-projects as possible which, once accumulated, will make a significant difference.”

The initiative is financed by various companies and brands such as Clarins, L’Occitane, Matmut, Crédit Agricole, CMA CGM, among others.

Aboard the boat is also an exhibition to raise awareness of plastic alternatives.

“This is part of Build the Future which is based on a social science research program aimed at deciphering plastic addiction,” said Anouk Dargent, who is in charge of implementing the international initiative for Plastic Odyssey.

As part of this mission, the crew members plan to meet with students from the Rawdat al-Fayhaa and al-Azm schools in Tripoli, to raise awareness about the seriousness of plastic pollution.

“We chose Lebanon as our first stop because it is a country with which France has many affinities, and because we are targeting the coastal cities of the Mediterranean, which is the most polluted sea,” added Dargent.

The boat will be moored in Beirut for 10 days before sailing to Alexandria, Egypt, its next stop.

This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translation by Joelle El Khoury. 

BEIRUT — Just off Beirut’s trendy Zaitunay Bay waterfront, an unusual 40-meter boat has attracted the curiosity of visitors over the past few days. The vessel is called the Plastic Odyssey, and is part of a French ecological initiative founded in 2016. It set sail from Marseille earlier this month and made its first stop in Beirut, arriving last week. According to Plastic Odyssey’s website,...