Engineering problems unique to a craft made of plastic water bottles forced the catamaran to make unscheduled stops, as has unpredictable weather.

CNN: Plastic bottle boat reaches Australia after stormy seas

We need to redesign, revalue, reduce, reuse, and ultimately rethink our use of plastic so that it can contribute to solutions rather than compounding the problems.

CNN: Opinion: Creating a sea of change

"What is worrying is the ever-increasing amount of plastic found on beaches, which is biodegradable and which presents huge problems for bird and marine life, " said Ms Bell.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Wales | Welsh beaches are most littered

The brief for the Plastiki Expedition was to design a boat made out of plastic bottles that could be sailed across the Pacific Ocean that would draw attention to the problems facing the oceans as well as the kind of solutions that we need to implement.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS