Green message: The 60ft-long Plastiki catamaran, built from plastic bottles, under the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Excited: Expedition leader David de Rothschild (second on left) and his crew
A crowd of about 100 erupted into cheers after the Plastiki finally docked.
De Rothschild - a descendant of the British banking family - exchanged high fives and hugs with his crew, pumping his fists into the air in victory.
'It has been an extraordinary adventure,' he said.
The 31-year-old said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 which said that pollution - and particularly plastic waste - was seriously threatening the world's oceans.
He decided that a good way to prove that rubbish can be effectively recycled was to use some of it to build a boat.
Long journey: The Plastiki completes her 8,000-nautical mile trans-Pacific voyage from San Francisco as she approaches the Sydney Opera House
British adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild sails as the Plastiki arrives at Sydney Harbour
The Plastiki - named after the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl - is fully recyclable and gets its power from solar panels and windmills.
The boat is almost entirely made up of bottles, which are held together with an organic glue made from sugar cane and cashews, but includes other materials too. The mast, for instance, is recycled aluminium irrigation pipe.
'The journey of the Plastiki is a journey from trash to triumph,' Jeffrey Bleich, the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, who greeted the team after they docked, said.
During their 128-day journey, the six-member crew lived in a cabin of just 20ft (6m) by 15ft (4.5m), took saltwater showers, and survived on a diet of dehydrated and canned food, supplemented with the occasional vegetable from their small on-board garden.
'Trash to triumph': During their 128-day journey, the six-member crew lived in a cabin of just 20ft (6m) by 15ft (4.5m)
Divers next to the keel of the boat made from 12,500 plastic bottles
Along the way, they fought giant ocean swells, 62-knot (70mph) winds, temperatures up to 38c (100f) and torn sails.
The crew briefly stopped in Queensland state last week, after battling a fierce storm off the Australian coast.
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