Kiwis sail plastic fantastic down Mississippi
Two young Kiwis are taking a stand against waste, turning trash into a boat to sail down one of the world’s longest and most polluted rivers.
For the past two months Dan Cullum, 24, and Martin Hill, 21, have been building a catamaran made from plastic bottles and bamboo, and will use it to travel the 3743 kilometres down the Mississippi.
Cullum leads a crew of four other 20-somethings. Hill will return to New Zealand before the team launch the boat on June 18.
But before then they will dock their boat at Washington Heights, New York City for a ‘‘promotional’’ sail on June 11.
The inspiration for Recycled Mississippi: Travelling on Trash came through a friend Cullum had met on his travels.
Cullum got in touch with Hill – his old pal from Botany Downs Secondary School – and just over two months ago Hill landed in the States to join the construction team.
In 2012, Hill, an AUT Bachelor of Creative Technologies graduate, invented a chariot that would help a wheelchair-bound 13-year-old hit the road with her cycling enthusiast dad.
Megan Clark died before she could ride on the chariot, but Hill was recognised by the Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers Award and his work won him the vicechancellor scholarship at AUT University.
Cullum’s route to the Mississippi was an unlikely one.
He had been working as a management consultant in Melbourne, primarily dealing with government and corporate strategies, before his old travelling buddy got in touch with him about a project to raise awareness about waste.
‘‘We thought there must be a more creative way we can get people to get involved and think about the issue,’’ Cullum said.
‘‘We thought, why don’t we go down one of the most polluted rivers in the world, to really drive home the issue. We’ll be able to see where the pollution is most concentrated, and connect with the communities that have turned their part of the river around.’’
Hill said the group of six ecoboaties made sure the plastic bottlefilled catamaran was safe to travel on by enlisting a German marine architect to help out.
Another aspect of the trip, Cullum said, was to attempt a ‘‘no waste’’ journey.
The Recycled Mississippi team would continue to post pictures and video of their efforts on their YouTube channel, as well as on Hubbub.
‘‘We’ll allow them to follow it in a really unique way, as live as we can make it for them, as the journey progresses,’’ Hill said.