Latest news with #SimonBernard
News.com.au
07-08-2025
- General
- News.com.au
A French sailor's personal 'Plastic Odyssey'
Simon Bernard's private war on plastic pollution began in 2016. From the deck of the cargo ship he was working on, Bernard was stunned to discover mountains of rubbish piled up in Hann Bay, once a white sandy beach that had become an open sewer in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Thickets of rubbish were almost everywhere along the coast, "washing into the sea with the tides and waves," the 34-year-old sailor told AFP in an interview. It was, he said, a terrible shock. "At sea, you don't see the plastic." Deeply moved by seeing fishermen pulling tangled webs of plastic from their nets, Bernard -– newly graduated from France's Merchant Navy -– enlisted another engineer, Alexandre Dechelotte, to embark on what he dubbed "Plastic Odyssey". The plan was to complete a round-the-world expedition aboard a 40-metre (130-foot) laboratory ship to raise awareness at their many ports of call -- especially among children -– about the devastating impact of the 20 tonnes of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every minute of every day. The three-year expedition, which partnered with local associations along their route, is almost complete. - 'Avoid using it' - Bernard secured financial sponsors, starting with a major French cosmetics brand that promoted the partnership as part of its commitment to increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its products. But he said he was under no illusions: he knows that his initiative has had a modest impact on the global fight against plastic pollution. He is also aware of earlier projects with similar goals that fell short of their ambitions. The Ocean Cleanup launch by 18-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat in 2013 – targeting the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California -- attracted money and attention but was hampered by design flaws and logistical limitations. A recent reboot of the system has shown greater potential for plastic removal at scale. Another initiative launched from France in 2018, the SeaCleaners, also reported disappointing yields of plastic pollution, and folded operations last year under the shadow of financial mismanagement. But Bernard said the cause was too important to ignore, and aimed to prove that even small-scale efforts were critical in striving for a future with less plastic. Plastic Odyssey today has a staff of 35. "The real solution to plastic pollution is to avoid using it," he said. Nearly 200 nations are huddled in Geneva this week and next to forge a treaty to tackle the plastics crisis, and one of the most divisive issues on the table is whether to aim for reducing plastics production at the source, rather than simply cleaning up pollution after the fact. - 30 stopovers - Giving up his dream of piloting ferries off the Normandy coast, Bernard left France on October 1, 2022. He is currently in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, and is nearing the end of his 30 three-week stops in three continents. His odyssey has taken him across the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. During stops in Marseille, Beirut, Dakar, Recife, Madras (Chennai) and two dozen other ports, he met with local associations, start-ups and companies working to collect, sort or recycle plastic. He marvels, he said, at the "inventiveness" of the people he met, especially those who have lost everything. He recalled an entrepreneur in Lebanon who collected recyclable household waste door-to-door from 60,000 people in a country that no longer has a public service for disposing of plastic. Two and a half years into his adventure Bernard gave up his apartment, and he now lives on the boat. The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than hundred local solutions for doing without plastic, which is derived from petroleum. Bernard has adopted several of them, including one "that works very well on board the boat" to make water drinkable, eliminating the need for plastic bottles. "This has saved us 25,000 bottles of water in two years -- almost a tonne of plastic," he calculated.
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A French sailor's personal 'Plastic Odyssey'
Simon Bernard's private war on plastic pollution began in 2016. From the deck of the cargo ship he was working on, Bernard was stunned to discover mountains of rubbish piled up in Hann Bay, once a white sandy beach that had become an open sewer in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Thickets of rubbish were almost everywhere along the coast, "washing into the sea with the tides and waves," the 34-year-old sailor told AFP in an interview. It was, he said, a terrible shock. "At sea, you don't see the plastic." Deeply moved by seeing fishermen pulling tangled webs of plastic from their nets, Bernard -– newly graduated from France's Merchant Navy -– enlisted another engineer, Alexandre Dechelotte, to embark on what he dubbed "Plastic Odyssey". The plan was to complete a round-the-world expedition aboard a 40-metre (130-foot) laboratory ship to raise awareness at their many ports of call -- especially among children -– about the devastating impact of the 20 tonnes of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every minute of every day. The three-year expedition, which partnered with local associations along their route, is almost complete. - 'Avoid using it' - Bernard secured financial sponsors, starting with a major French cosmetics brand that promoted the partnership as part of its commitment to increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its products. But he said he was under no illusions: he knows that his initiative has had a modest impact on the global fight against plastic pollution. He is also aware of earlier projects with similar goals that fell short of their ambitions. The Ocean Cleanup launch by 18-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat in 2013 – targeting the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California -- attracted money and attention but was hampered by design flaws and logistical limitations. A recent reboot of the system has shown greater potential for plastic removal at scale. Another initiative launched from France in 2018, the SeaCleaners, also reported disappointing yields of plastic pollution, and folded operations last year under the shadow of financial mismanagement. But Bernard said the cause was too important to ignore, and aimed to prove that even small-scale efforts were critical in striving for a future with less plastic. Plastic Odyssey today has a staff of 35. "The real solution to plastic pollution is to avoid using it," he said. Nearly 200 nations are huddled in Geneva this week and next to forge a treaty to tackle the plastics crisis, and one of the most divisive issues on the table is whether to aim for reducing plastics production at the source, rather than simply cleaning up pollution after the fact. - 30 stopovers - Giving up his dream of piloting ferries off the Normandy coast, Bernard left France on October 1, 2022. He is currently in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, and is nearing the end of his 30 three-week stops in three continents. His odyssey has taken him across the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. During stops in Marseille, Beirut, Dakar, Recife, Madras (Chennai) and two dozen other ports, he met with local associations, start-ups and companies working to collect, sort or recycle plastic. He marvels, he said, at the "inventiveness" of the people he met, especially those who have lost everything. He recalled an entrepreneur in Lebanon who collected recyclable household waste door-to-door from 60,000 people in a country that no longer has a public service for disposing of plastic. Two and a half years into his adventure Bernard gave up his apartment, and he now lives on the boat. The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than hundred local solutions for doing without plastic, which is derived from petroleum. Bernard has adopted several of them, including one "that works very well on board the boat" to make water drinkable, eliminating the need for plastic bottles. "This has saved us 25,000 bottles of water in two years -- almost a tonne of plastic," he calculated. im/mh/js
Int'l Business Times
07-08-2025
- General
- Int'l Business Times
A French Sailor's Personal 'Plastic Odyssey'
Simon Bernard's private war on plastic pollution began in 2016. From the deck of the cargo ship he was working on, Bernard was stunned to discover mountains of rubbish piled up in Hann Bay, once a white sandy beach that had become an open sewer in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Thickets of rubbish were almost everywhere along the coast, "washing into the sea with the tides and waves," the 34-year-old sailor told AFP in an interview. It was, he said, a terrible shock. "At sea, you don't see the plastic." Deeply moved by seeing fishermen pulling tangled webs of plastic from their nets, Bernard -- newly graduated from France's Merchant Navy -- enlisted another engineer, Alexandre Dechelotte, to embark on what he dubbed "Plastic Odyssey". The plan was to complete a round-the-world expedition aboard a 40-metre (130-foot) laboratory ship to raise awareness at their many ports of call -- especially among children -- about the devastating impact of the 20 tonnes of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every minute of every day. The three-year expedition, which partnered with local associations along their route, is almost complete. Bernard secured financial sponsors, starting with a major French cosmetics brand that promoted the partnership as part of its commitment to increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its products. But he said he was under no illusions: he knows that his initiative has had a modest impact on the global fight against plastic pollution. He is also aware of earlier projects with similar goals that fell short of their ambitions. The Ocean Cleanup launch by 18-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat in 2013 - targeting the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California -- attracted money and attention but was hampered by design flaws and logistical limitations. A recent reboot of the system has shown greater potential for plastic removal at scale. Another initiative launched from France in 2018, the SeaCleaners, also reported disappointing yields of plastic pollution, and folded operations last year under the shadow of financial mismanagement. But Bernard said the cause was too important to ignore, and aimed to prove that even small-scale efforts were critical in striving for a future with less plastic. Plastic Odyssey today has a staff of 35. "The real solution to plastic pollution is to avoid using it," he said. Nearly 200 nations are huddled in Geneva this week and next to forge a treaty to tackle the plastics crisis, and one of the most divisive issues on the table is whether to aim for reducing plastics production at the source, rather than simply cleaning up pollution after the fact. Giving up his dream of piloting ferries off the Normandy coast, Bernard left France on October 1, 2022. He is currently in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, and is nearing the end of his 30 three-week stops in three continents. His odyssey has taken him across the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. During stops in Marseille, Beirut, Dakar, Recife, Madras (Chennai) and two dozen other ports, he met with local associations, start-ups and companies working to collect, sort or recycle plastic. He marvels, he said, at the "inventiveness" of the people he met, especially those who have lost everything. He recalled an entrepreneur in Lebanon who collected recyclable household waste door-to-door from 60,000 people in a country that no longer has a public service for disposing of plastic. Two and a half years into his adventure Bernard gave up his apartment, and he now lives on the boat. The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than hundred local solutions for doing without plastic, which is derived from petroleum. Bernard has adopted several of them, including one "that works very well on board the boat" to make water drinkable, eliminating the need for plastic bottles. "This has saved us 25,000 bottles of water in two years -- almost a tonne of plastic," he calculated. The three-year expedition partnered with local associations along the route AFP The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than a hundred local solutions for doing without plastic AFP
Euronews
11-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
From plastics to sunscreen: The battle to clean our oceans
On March 18, 1967, the supertanker SS Torrey Canyon struck a reef off the coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, spilling 100,000 tonnes of crude oil into the English Channel. Beaches in southern England, the French region of Brittany, and Guernsey in the Channel Islands were submerged in thick sludge. More than 15,000 seabirds were killed, and the spill caused innumerable long-term damages to the marine environment. The Torrey Canyon disaster was the first major oil spill in European waters. It marked a turning point in the way people interacted with oceans, revealing how vulnerable marine ecosystems are to human-induced threats. To mark World Oceans Day on June 8, Euronews Tech Talks talked to two ocean experts to better comprehend the state of our oceans and the high and low-tech innovations that can help protect them. Over the past four decades, global plastic production has more than quadrupled, yet recycling has failed to keep pace, with rates remaining below 10 per cent. Simon Bernard is the CEO and co-founder of Plastic Odyssey, a project dedicated to tackling ocean plastic pollution. Bernard and a group of researchers embarked on a tour around the world aboard a research vessel to explore the best solutions for reducing plastic pollution. "The idea of a research vessel is to be a scientific platform to study, do research, and development... The vessel acts as a laboratory, so for example, the aft is dedicated to recycling with various machines used to recycle plastic, test different solutions and technologies, and train local entrepreneurs," Bernard explained to Euronews. Plastic Odyssey has been sailing for two and a half years. During the journey, the crew stops for three weeks in locations affected by plastic pollution, meets the locals, institutions, and entrepreneurs to learn about their solutions, and helps support them. "That's quite shocking to realise that there is no pristine environment anymore, because plastic pollution has impacted all the places," said Bernard. Throughout the Plastic Odyssey's journey, Bernard has met many people tackling plastic pollution and has been impressed by the cleverness of the simplest solutions. "We've visited maybe 150 factories and initiatives, and what's most interesting to us is the ingenuity and the use of low-tech solutions," he said. "We met a guy in Lebanon who made the equivalent of a food delivery app but for waste connection... and I'm thinking about Silvio in Colombia who was building houses out of plastic waste," Bernard said. While plastic pollution is a visible threat to marine ecosystems, oceans are also damaged by hazards that are much harder to detect, like chemical pollutants. Researcher Anneliese Hodge from the University of Plymouth is studying these complex pollutants, and one of her most recent studies focuses on sunscreen. The most harmful components of sunscreen are its UV filters designed to block, absorb, or reflect the sun's ultraviolet rays. "A recent estimation has suggested that approximately 10 million tonnes of UV filters are produced annually for the global market, of which an estimated 6,000 to 14,000 tonnes are released into coral reef zones alone annually," Hodge told Euronews. "So this is quite a widespread issue," she continued. Hodge explained that UV filters in sunscreen can affect marine ecosystems at a molecular, cellular, individual, and community level. For instance, sunscreen can damage the DNA of marine organisms and cause coral bleaching. Despite the need for further research into this topic, Hodge highlighted several potential solutions to reduce the threats sunscreen poses to marine environments. Among them is the encapsulation of UV filters in biodegradable capsules that activate only upon contact with the skin. In addition, Hodge cited the possibility of reducing UV filters and instead using Sun Protection Factor (SPF) boosters, specialised ingredients that could replace UV filters. She also pointed to the introduction of some regulations to make corporations reduce the UV filters or ban the use of certain products.
Associated Press
10-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Plastic Odyssey Fund Launches in the United States to Combat Ocean Plastic Pollution Worldwide
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 10, 2025 /CNW/ -- Plastic Odyssey is a global initiative dedicated to tackling plastic pollution in the world's most affected regions. Over the past eight years, it has built a worldwide network of recycling and reduction solutions, working to prevent plastic waste from reaching the ocean. Now, Plastic Odyssey is launching a new phase: large-scale missions to restore biodiversity in protected areas overwhelmed by plastic pollution, starting with the 50 priority sites listed by UNESCO. As a milestone in this expansion, Plastic Odyssey is proud to announce the creation of Plastic Odyssey Fund, a US-based Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation. Launch Events Plastic Odyssey Fund was co-founded by Simon Bernard and Alexandre Dechelotte, co-founders of Plastic Odyssey, along with Fabien Lamaison, a social and climate entrepreneur. As the flagship for Plastic Odyssey's mission in the U.S., this new Nonprofit entity is dedicated to tackling ocean plastic pollution by scaling low-tech, community-driven solutions and fostering innovation in waste reduction. To mark this milestone, several events are organized in 2025, beginning with the Yachting Luncheon at the St. Francis Yacht Club, followed by 'The Ocean Night: Navigating a Plastic-Free Future with Plastic Odyssey' at 9Zero in San Francisco with the participation of a panel of experts monitored by Janelle Kellman, Candidate for Lt. Governor of California. Later this year, the series will continue with an event at the Explorers Club in New York, Seattle and other major cities, deepening engagement with the ocean community and raising awareness about Plastic Odyssey's mission. Additionally, the latest documentary from Plastic Odyssey will be screened across the U.S., bringing its powerful story to new audiences and inspiring further action against plastic pollution. Scaling The Impossible Cleanups: Biodiversity Hotspots Restoration Missions Building on the success of its 2024 Proof of Concept mission on Henderson Island, Plastic Odyssey is now launching large-scale Biodiversity Hotspots Restoration Missions targeting the 50 most vulnerable and isolated UNESCO Marine Heritage Sites. These sites act as natural plastic traps, accumulating plastic waste at concentrations up to 400 times higher than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Their extreme remoteness has long made clean-ups seem impossible—until now. Plastic Odyssey's approach combines proven extraction methods, mobile recycling units, and scientific research to make large-scale clean-ups viable. The cost of plastic removal is reduced to just $10 per kilogram—a 10x efficiency gain compared to open-ocean cleanups. Each mission deploys a sail-powered research and cleanup fleet, designed to operate within fragile ecosystems, preventing further microplastic breakdown and transforming collected waste into durable, sequestered products through containerized mini-recycling factories installed in nearby coastal communities. Fundraising Campaign To scale this effort, Plastic Odyssey is launching a $30 million fundraising campaign over six years to support initiatives aimed at restoring marine biodiversity, protecting vital coastal ecosystems, and establishing a sustainable model for large-scale cleanup and recycling efforts. Volunteering opportunities are also available to help the mission succeed. Learn more on
