Picture a pristine beach with waves rolling in. Yet, the seawater splashing in the sand comes with discarded plastic bottles and other trash. This is the grim reality of oceans today. Worse than floating garbage, which is only one percent of the world’s marine pollution, microplastics that settle on the seabed are wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems.

“The plastic history — we don’t know exactly where the plastic is, but we know it’s not at the surface,” Simon Bernard, president and co-founder of the ship Plastic Odyssey, told reporters at Alliance Française de Manille, a private organization that promotes French language and culture to Filipinos, on 21 November.

Plastic Odyssey is a floating laboratory on a mission to tackle ocean plastic pollution.

The staggering truth is that the amount of plastic currently floating in our oceans that most people attempt to clean enters them every two days. Cleaning them up, however, is merely scratching the surface. This reality has driven the Plastic Odyssey team to rethink the plastic waste approach entirely.

Floating lab, workshop

Plastic Odyssey is a 40-meter repurposed research vessel launched in 2022. It is a laboratory brimming with solutions for plastic waste. It is also a traveling showroom of cutting-edge technologies for recycling plastic, a mechanical workshop, an analysis laboratory and prototype testing facilities.

The workshop is the heart of the ship, where innovation and tools allow the crew to build new parts and develop advanced recycling prototypes.

The recycling workshop area features shredders to break plastics into flakes, a washer and dryer, and a multifunctional extruder that transforms the flakes into usable objects.

Recycled creations are displayed onboard, offering a glimpse into the potential of repurposed plastics and sparking ideas for their new applications.

For plastics deemed non-recyclable, the Plastic Odyssey has a game-changing solution. In its Zone Pyrolysis, non-recyclable plastics are converted by a pyrolysis machine into fuel to power engines. The ship’s engine room tests this fuel and explores innovative ways to reduce engine pollution.

More than just a laboratory — the vessel is also a hub for collaboration. The ship features a conference room for meetings and workshops, a plastic-free kitchen, cabins and living areas for its crew, and an exhibition space dedicated to showcasing alternatives to single-use plastics.