How a simple boat removed plastic from the world's most polluted coasts

Plastic pollution is one of the defining environmental challenges of our time. Every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans, threatening ecosystems, wildlife, and coastal communities. But where do you begin cleaning this worldwide mess up?

This is what Plastic Odyssey found the answer to: by addressing plastic pollution at its source and empowering local communities to turn waste into resources. Launched from Marseille in 2022, the Plastic Odyssey expedition is a three-year journey across some of the regions most affected by plastic pollution. On board is a 40-meter laboratory ship that serves as a floating recycling workshop, research center, and training platform. But Plastic Odyssey is more than a ship. It is a global movement built around innovation, collaboration, and the idea that plastic should be treated as a valuable resource rather than waste.

We went to an Exclusive Evening with Simon Bernard, CEO of Plastic Odyssey at Lumnia (Lisbon) on March 11th to learn about his impressive explorations and solutions.

Who Is Behind Plastic Odyssey?

Plastic Odyssey was co-founded by Simon Bernard, a former merchant navy officer passionate about environmental protection, and entrepreneur Alexandre Dechelotte.

Together with engineers, scientists, sailors, and social entrepreneurs, they created a project designed to tackle plastic pollution through practical solutions rather than large-scale ocean cleanup alone.

The organization collaborates with governments, NGOs, research institutions, and local entrepreneurs to build a global network of recycling initiatives.

How the Plastic Odyssey System Works

Unlike many initiatives focused on collecting plastic already floating in the ocean, Plastic Odyssey concentrates on preventing plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place.

At the heart of the project is its laboratory vessel, which contains a mini recycling factory with low-tech machines capable of sorting, crushing, and transforming plastic waste.

The technologies on board can:

• Grind plastic into flakes

• Melt and extrude it into new products

• Convert non-recyclable plastic into fuel through pyrolysis

These machines are open-source and low-cost, meaning they can be built locally and replicated in communities that lack waste-management infrastructure.

During each stopover, the Plastic Odyssey team trains local entrepreneurs to operate these technologies and create small recycling businesses. Over time, this creates local jobs while reducing the amount of plastic entering rivers and oceans.

Cleaning Henderson Island: the “impossible cleanup”

One of their most ambitious missions took place on Henderson Island, a remote island in the South Pacific known as one of the most plastic-polluted places on Earth.

Despite being uninhabited and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, Henderson Island has accumulated huge amounts of marine debris carried by ocean currents. Plastic Odyssey launched a cleanup expedition in 2024 to remove plastic threatening the island’s bird and marine life.

The team planned to remove about six tons of plastic waste during a 20-day mission.

Because the island’s beaches are surrounded by coral reefs and difficult to access by boat, the crew used small support vessels, like a parachute and a scooter wheel to pull it in, to collect debris. The recovered plastic was transported to the expedition ship and nearby islands for recycling and processing.

Helping out Santa Luzia Island

Another key site connected to Plastic Odyssey’s work is Santa Luzia in Cape Verde.

Although the island is uninhabited, large quantities of ocean debris accumulate on its beaches due to marine currents. Along about four kilometers of coastline, plastic waste - including fishing nets, bottles, and industrial debris - has washed ashore from around the world.

During a stopover in Cape Verde, the Plastic Odyssey team worked with the local environmental organization Biosfera to:

• Assess the extent of plastic pollution on the island

• Participate in waste collection campaigns

• Develop logistics for transporting the waste to recycling facilities on nearby islands

The island is also a critical nesting site for loggerhead sea turtles, making cleanup efforts especially important for protecting biodiversity.

Santa Luzia has since become part of Plastic Odyssey’s “Impossible Cleanups” program, which aims to restore remote UNESCO marine heritage sites heavily affected by plastic pollution.

The mission: turning waste into opportunity

The central mission of all this, is to prove that plastic pollution can be addressed locally, economically, and sustainably.

The project focuses on three main goals:

1. Prevent plastic from reaching the ocean by improving waste management on land.

2. Create circular economies where plastic waste is transformed into useful materials or fuel.

3. Train local entrepreneurs to build sustainable recycling businesses.

Since the expedition began, the initiative has supported hundreds of recycling entrepreneurs and explored dozens of solutions for managing plastic waste in developing regions.

Ultimately, Plastic Odyssey aims to build a global network of local recycling initiatives that can drastically reduce the amount of plastic entering the ocean.

A new model for ocean conservation

Plastic Odyssey demonstrates that fighting plastic pollution is not only about removing waste; it is about redesigning the systems that create it. By combining innovation, education, and local entrepreneurship, the project offers a scalable model for tackling one of the planet’s biggest environmental problems.

If successful, its approach could help transform plastic waste from a global crisis into an opportunity for sustainable development.