MV Plastic Odyssey docked at Penang Port (All photos: Plastic Odyssey)
One of the four islands of the Pitcairn archipelago in South Polynesia, Henderson Island looks like a splendid green gem from afar, hugged by the azure waves of the South Pacific Ocean. Known as San Juan Bautista and Elizabeth Island long ago, it is characterised by steep grey limestone cliffs, crowned by greenery that peek out above strips of forest, and shimmering beaches. The surrounding coral atoll nurtures a diverse marine ecosystem and is one of few near-pristine examples left in the world.
The lush Unesco World Heritage site, uninhabited and largely untouched by mankind, is home to over 60 species of flora and fauna, several endemic to the 37.3km stretch of sanctuary, including Henderson Petrels and Crakes — the first a yellow-billed ground-nesting sea bird with dark plumage, and the second, a flightless chestnut brown fowl evolved to one with shrunken wings due to a lack of land predators and threats.
Beside thriving thickets of Santalum hendersonense, Myrsine hosokae, Celtis paniculata var. viridis and two varieties of Bidens hendersonensis sit a white sand beach. Here, sea turtles come to nest and hermit crabs scuttle — yet a whopping 38 million pieces of plastic (around 18 tonnes, according to National Geographic) have also washed ashore.
Carried by the South Pacific gyre, a system of rotating ocean currents that acts like an eternal conveyor belt, this immense amount of trash comes from all over the world and comprises largely discarded fishing nets, old buoys and water bottles. Anywhere from 3,500 to 13,500 new pieces drift in every day (based on conservative estimates), making this Eden-like paradise a veritable plastic graveyard and disheartening example of how man’s greed and selfishness can harm Mother Nature.
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The impossible clean-up
In 2019, Plastic Odyssey, a global project tackling marine plastic pollution, arrived on Henderson Island with one goal in mind — to help return it to its former glory. Six tonnes of waste were collected along the eastern shoreline, and all seemed on track until the team encountered a final obstacle. Choppy waves and the risk of damaging the reefs in the shallows made transporting the garbage back to the main ship — MV Plastic Odyssey — virtually impossible. The airspace was often filled with endangered birds, so attempting to access the land via helicopter was also out of the question.
The group was left with no choice but to leave the junk behind and brainstorm another unconventional method that would relieve the island of its manmade burdens while leaving nature intact.
On Feb 12, 2024, five years after the organisation’s original mission, the team returned to the verdant Polynesian jewel and, over seven days, managed to remove nine tonnes of plastic from the beach, including the six that had been left in large bags safely above the high tide line. When weather conditions were favourable and the waters calm, a lightweight raft was used to carefully carry waste past the reefs. When waves were rough, bags were attached to a parasail and evacuated without disturbing the surrounding wildlife.
Co-founded in 2017 by former merchant navy officers Simon Bernard and Alexandre Dechelotte, the enterprise started with the invention of Ulysse, a small prototype vessel that could only hold a few people at a time, powered by fuel made from waste. As the team grew and a mission to sail around the world became more feasible, they acquired an old oceanographic research ship and renovated it to suit their needs. The 39m-long craft, painted white and admiral blue, is now home to 20 crew members on a three-year expedition with 30 stopovers around the world.
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More than just a clean-up initiative, Plastic Odyssey’s operations include repurposing waste into useful objects. Through the use of on-board machinery, as well as micro-factories installed in Guinea, Togo and Djibouti (several more are currently being set up in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire), recyclable plastics are sorted, washed, pulverised and extruded to make tiles, chairs, bricks, plates and more.
Non-recyclables are fed into a pyrolysis machine, a large metal beast at the ship’s stern, and turned into fuel. Most of the nine tonnes removed from Henderson Island were turned into furniture for the nearby Pitcairn communities.
At every stop, the ship becomes a meeting base for a small selection of local entrepreneurs in the sustainability and recycling sectors to workshop new solutions. The crew also hosts virtual and in-person school tours where youth engage in Q&A sessions, are brought around the vessel and offered learning materials and supported classroom projects. The crew are a testament to the endless possibilities of human ingenuity and alternative, green lifestyles starting with the furniture samples used in the common areas. They also make their own bread and yoghurt on board and employ a unique water filtration system by French company InovaYa to cut down on grocery packaging, showing how innovative, low-tech methods can greatly reduce the waste we produce without compromising our quality of life.
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Cultivators of change
From lotions to shower gels, our beauty and grooming products commonly come swathed in plastic containers. Typically thrown away once emptied, cosmetic packaging makes up about 30% of plastic trash globally. Some formulations even contain tiny insoluble microplastics that are swept down the drain during our self-care rituals, contributing to waste in water systems. This is not to say you should go without the holy grail conditioner that actually works for your hair type, or forget about an upcoming trip to the drugstore to replenish beauty empties. But a small adjustment to consumption habits and the types of brands you purchase from can make a world of difference.
Since its establishment in 1976, luxury cosmetics manufacturer and conglomerate L’Occitane en Provence has been all about sharing the wonders of the natural world with beauty lovers. Its deep commitment to brand transparency, sustainable ingredients and climate consciousness resulted in the ongoing Big Little Things recycling programme, which has reclaimed over 4.9 million cosmetic empties and subsequently diverted 260 tonnes of beauty waste from landfills in Malaysia alone. In 2019, the French heritage label became Plastic Odyssey’s main sponsor, supporting the organisation on its mission around the world.
On Feb 14, this collaboration culminated in the vessel’s first stopover in Penang in conjunction with the introduction of the state’s 2025 No Plastic Bag Every Day campaign. At an intimate launch ceremony, Plastic Odyssey and L’Occitane joined hands with the Penang Green Council and Penang Port Commission to unveil the latest of the local government’s initiatives to completely phase out single-use plastics. Following opening speeches and an insightful presentation by Bernard, attendees boarded the MV Plastic Odyssey, docked at Swettenham Pier, to get a first-hand glimpse of the team’s work and unique way of life.
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The stopover marked the beginning of a new era for Penang, long considered the nation’s green state. In 2009, major retail outlets and grocery stores started charging 20 sen for a plastic bag on Mondays. This act paved the way for a statewide ban on polystyrene food containers as well as anti-plastic bag and straw campaigns and, most recently in 2020-21, moves to stop the flow of plastic bags from Mondays to Wednesdays, alongside a RM1 per bag rule for the rest of the week. With the aid of parties like L’Occitane and Plastic Odyssey, Penang is more on track than ever to eliminating single-use plastics, making it a shining beacon of hope for a greener, cleaner Malaysia.
Scientists estimate that if the production and disposal of single-use plastics continue at their current rate, by 2050, the world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish. Initially invented to solve problems in the industrial age, this material, once prized for its versatility and cost effectiveness, is now a major threat to the planet’s health. Saying no to a plastic bag at the supermarket may seem like a tiny drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, but if the remarkable clean-up of a small unpopulated islet halfway between Chile and New Zealand is anything to go by, perhaps more of us can rejuvenate our faith and be inspired to take action in our own little ways.
This article first appeared on Mar 3, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
