Dutch couple Edwin and Liesbeth ter Velde are on the eve of a very special journey. They will soon be travelling to and across the South Pole in their home-made car made of plastic waste. The car has now been brought to Chile, which will be the starting point.
With their special project, called Clean2Antartica, they want to draw attention to the environment. The trip is 2,300 kilometres and the two plan to take about 30 days. That's about 75 kilometres a day. That seems little, but the Solar Voyager does not go very fast: its top speed is about nine kilometres per hour, but they plan to drive about five, because Antarctica is so rugged.
The couple plan to alternate at the wheel, two hours on and two hours off. In the meantime, they can sleep for a while and have to prepare food. Some 8,500 calories must be consumed to stay warm. Behind the Voyager hang a couple of trailers in which kilos of freeze-dried food are towed.
Driving the all-terrain vehicle across Antartica does require a few things. The Solar Voyager contains ten solar panels that provide energy for the engine and heating elements that melt snow for drinking water. The little weight is distributed on specially developed wheels to enable efficient driving. "What started as a puzzle by HexCores is now a high-tech Antarctic car," they say about it on their website. Incidentally, the chariot is not made entirely of plastic waste. Certain parts needed to build the car could not be made from recyclable material.
Waste
The challenging trip, as mentioned, is being made to draw attention to the global waste problem. The two are concerned about the increase in the use of plastic. "We want the mentality to change," Edwin ter Velde told radio NPO 1. He wonders why plastic suddenly becomes a waste product after use. "The molecules of that plastic haven't changed," he says, "it's really in our heads." To show what you can do with plastic, he had the Solar Voyager built, for inspiration.
The Ter Veldes think that is what citizens should take the initiative, as the couple themselves have not been consuming waste for years. "We don't have to expect it from the government," thinks Edwin, who points out that laws often take a long time. Companies won't do it either, he thinks, unless consumers force them to. It can start small, thinks Liesbeth: "Just go to the bakery once with a cotton bag," she says, "or with a glass jar to the market for your nuts."
Poo
The journey to Antarctica must also be completely waste-free. Nothing must be left behind on the continent: even faeces must be taken back with you, Liesbeth explains. "It's so cold there, that poo stays there," she explains. "Tie it in the bag and take it back to the mainland."
The expedition will start in November, as it will be summer in Antarctica. Summer is quite a relative term, it turns out, as the expected temperature is -30. Before then, they will 'practice' in a temperature chamber. Voyager has also been practising: last spring it already made a trip to Iceland.
Source: Clean2Antartica/NPO 1
