Garbage Guardians
Two Aussie surfers, fed-up with the mountain of plastic trash suffocating our seas, decided to tackle the problem with a simple invention. Their Seabin garbage collector is rapidly gaining international attention.
A timely invention from a pair of Aussie surfers who became fed up with the garbage suffocating our seas.
Based in Perth, Pete Ceglinski and Andrew Turton were galvanised into action after being confronted – literally – by the massive amount of rubbish floating in our seas. Initial development of their Seabin concept began in 2015. Today, the units are installed in marinas and waterways all over the world – including one in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour, with another destined for the Tutukaka marina. And the orders are climbing.
“It started with a simple, lateral thought,” says Ceglinski, now CEO of the Seabin Project. “We have rubbish bins on the land – why don’t we put them in the water?”
In essence, the Seabin is a floating garbage collector – and like many clever inventions it’s also very basic. Water is sucked in from the surface and passes through a catch bag within the Seabin. The suction’s provided by a submersible water pump capable of displacing 25,000 litres per hour, plugged directly into a nearby 110/220-volt outlet. Energy consumption equates to around a dollar a day.
The water passes back into the marina, leaving litter and debris trapped in the catch bag. Each Seabin can catch an estimated 1.5kgs of floating debris per day (depending on weather and debris volumes), including microplastics down to 2mm in size. The catch bag holds up to 20kgs of debris. It should be checked twice a day and emptied as needed.
“Typical litter includes food wrappers and cigarette butts,” says Ceglinsk, “as well micro plastics.” The Worldwatch Institute estimates that between 10 and 20 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans each year and believes that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.
Occasionally, Seabins also catch bait fish but as these stay alive in the water they are easily set free.
Ceglinski says the best place to install a Seabin is in a marina’s ‘debris problem area’, where a strategic positioning enables the wind and the currents to push the debris directly to the unit. In addition to trash, the units also collect oil, fuel and detergents.
Dozens of countries now have Seabins installed to help clean up their waterways, and the organisation is being bombarded with an increasing number of orders from all over the world. A video of the unit in action has gone viral and it has registered more than a billion views and shares.
We are working towards turning off the tap to plastics entering our waterways. Because if you cannot turn off the tap, how will we ever clean up the mess? – Pete Ceglinski
EDUCATION
Marine litter, says Ceglinski, is an issue that will have to be dealt with for generations to come. “So we need to provide the knowledge, tools and capacities to the decision-makers of the future, our children. Education is the first step to lasting and effective solutions.
“Every child who learns to dispose of trash properly can be one less ‘source’ person littering – and they have the potential to spread the word to friends and family, amplifying the effect. Our mission is simple – to have pollution-free oceans for our future generations. If we all work together, we can achieve this!”
The Seabin Foundation has developed an opensource education programme based on interaction with and without the Seabin technology. A not-for-profit fundraising organisation, it addresses education, research and innovation projects that result in cleaner oceans.
SUPPORT THE PROJECT Donations can be made via: www.seabinproject.com/product/donations/ or by Paypal to foundation@seabinproject.com