November 2025: News from the Plastic Odyssey expedition

Because even more than 1,000 kilometres from the nearest inhabited island, plastic eventually finds its way ashore, carried by ocean currents and reminding us that nowhere on Earth is spared. Jerrycans, ropes, fishing floats, thousands of flip-flops, bottles, caps, children’s toys: an unlikely collection that tells the story of our dependence on plastic, even in places where no one lives.

This is where we made a stopover in October, for a slightly crazy mission: to follow in the footsteps of Cousteau and, before him, Darwin, and clean up this almost inaccessible atoll of XXL proportions. Our objective: to carry out an initial reconnaissance mission to support the local teams of the Seychelles Islands Foundation in preparing what could become the largest desert island clean-up ever undertaken; to document the true extent of pollution on the atoll using high-precision drone mapping; and to test new methods for clean-up operations and living in such extreme conditions.

On the agenda: long walks along the island’s exposed southern coastline, identifying areas to be cleaned, testing the extraction of waste sometimes stranded for years above sharp karst rock barriers, preparing logistics for isolated base camps (water, energy, food, etc.), and a few epic encounters with the local residents (especially the ones with shells).

The result: a detailed pollution map, promising new extraction techniques, the first prototypes of furniture manufactured directly on the atoll, and one more step toward preparing a large-scale clean-up operation.
And above all, a human adventure that reminds us that even the last remaining paradises are no longer completely untouched, but that action is still possible.

To dive into the expedition and explore the logbook, photos, and first video episodes, click here: https://aldabra.plasticodyssey.org/

We start collecting, and by mid-day the figures are already surprising: 1.7 tonnes collected. With 8 people. In a single morning. On less than a tenth of the island.

It quickly becomes clear that the task far exceeds anything we had imagined. Coco Island (5 km long / 1 km wide) is literally covered in plastic. And the bad news is that this plastic is extremely difficult to collect. It breaks down into small fragments and crumbles between our fingers. You can physically feel the urgency of removing this waste as quickly as possible, before it permanently enters the archipelago’s ecosystem in the form of microplastics.

On board, it is all hands on deck. We shred, extrude and compact the material to fit as much as possible on board without exceeding the critical 7-tonne limit required to keep the Plastic Odyssey stable in increasingly rough seas. The vessel turns into a true ant colony, covered from end to end with waste ready to be processed.

Even after collecting 5.3 tonnes, there is likely twice as much waste still stranded on the island. Impossible to remove everything this time. And leaving Coco in this state is not an option. A serious challenge for the years ahead.

This mission, however, delivered invaluable lessons:

• Better assess pollution upstream: thanks to drone surveys and image analysis methods initiated at Aldabra and tested here, we are making progress in estimating volumes and weights before arriving on site.
• Optimise base camps and team organisation: many ideas emerged around onshore efficiency, coordination, pacing and equipment.
• Design new tools: the field sparked a wealth of ideas for faster, stronger and more ergonomic systems. We are eager to prototype and test them in real conditions.

Saint Brandon made it clear: every clean-up is unique, with its surprises, its limits and its small victories. And sometimes, even when well prepared, a 5 km island gently reminds us of our limits.

And in January 2026, the island will take things a step further: selective collection and mandatory sorting for all households. A small daily revolution that naturally requires local solutions to manage the resulting waste streams.

This is where the Mautopia x Plastic Odyssey duo comes into play. Together, we are preparing a pre-treatment container (compaction and shredding for PET and rigid plastics) scheduled to be operational in the first half of 2026. The principle is simple: reduce plastic volumes directly on the island, before shipping the material to Mauritius for industrial recycling with well-established partners.

In short, Rodrigues shows what a small island can achieve when it chooses to lead by example and gives itself the means to do so. A territory that experiments, innovates and helps move the entire region forward. And we are delighted to support this momentum.