TESSA CANCI, 14, will sail the Swan River on a raft made of plastic bottles this school holidays.

The Fremantle teen, who is more used to the sturdy hull of a proper sailboat, made the makeshift raft in a bid to get people thinking about plastic pollution in waterways.

Tessa says for years she’s taken a couple of water bottles on sailing trips and every time the boat’s capsized, the plastic containers have sunk.

It’s the thought of an insurmountable number of bottles lying on the river bed that made her concerned.

• Tessa Canci, 14, is sailing the Swan River on a raft made of plastic bottles this school holidays. She’ll attach an old sail and a paddle before setting off on Friday next week. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

“Once they’re in there, you can never get them back,” she says.

The raft was made as part of a project at Perth Waldorf School in Bibra Lake. The student challenge was to make a positive change. Tessa will launch the raft—made of plastic bottles, duct tape and a fishing net—from a sandbar near East Fremantle Yacht Club on Petra Street late next week.

Planning to stay dry, she will float about halfway before returning to land, using a kayak paddle to steer.

by EMMIE DOWLING