Brazilian Businessman to Sail in PET Bottles Ship
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 09.13.05
São Paulo businessman Eduardo Pereira de Carvalho is about to take a two months trip through São Francisco River in a boat whose basement is composed by recycled PET bottles. It will be a 1371 kilometres journey through the largest all Brazilian river, which crosses five states. It will start at Pirapora Port, in the state of Minas Geráis, and will end in Juazeiro, state of Bahia. While passing along the cities in between, De Carvalho will offer conferences explaining the importance of recycling and of the conscious use of water; and even showing the kids some gadgets that can be done from PET bottles. As most of the families that live by the river coast are poor, these conferences will serve as a good introduction to environmental awareness. The ship in which he will travel was developed by a naval engineer and has its whole basement built with 2.040 PET bottles...
It is 22 feet long and has already been approved by the Marine Ministry. Its main driving force is Aeolian, but also counts on oars and a motor.
The boat will sail October 5th if the weather is right, and the details of the trip will be revealed in a diary De Carvalho will maintain at the website of the project. ::Megapet Project (in Portuguese).
I love that boat. It's beautifully spare and simple. Make sure to check out the Photo Galeria, and in particular the little toys made from bottles:
http://www.projetomegapet.com.br/brinquedos.htm
I would call him an artist first, and a business man second.
tim