Society’s waste, from chemicals to plastic has reached the depths of the ocean. Ocean garbage is increasing by the day. And we need forefront solutions like the Seabin to not let it spread more deeper.
In 2015, Pete Ceglinski, an Australian surfer and ocean lover who dreamt of having completely plastic-free oceans for future generations, quit his day job and created the Seabin.
Seabin is a revolutionary new way to remove plastic, oil, and other debris from our oceans and oceans. Essentially a floating rubbish bin, the Seabin is designed to be installed on cruises or in ports, marinas, and near other coastal areas to capture the waste which comes within its locus as it moves up and down the tidal area.
Filtering out trash
It sucks and spits out 25,000 litres of water every hour, using a submersible pump, filtering out trash and other debris in its catch bag to be recycled or otherwise disposed of at a later hour. Surface oil can also be collected by the Seabin to some extent. The Seabin can store up to 20 kg of debris. Ceglinski estimates his machine should be able to collect up to 1.5kg of waste in a day if lucky.
This figure is nothing compared to the two million kilos of plastic that enter our oceans every single day, but the cumulative and collective effort with over 5,000 orders from 330 different ports in 170 countries already can be a huge step towards cleaning up the enormous amounts of garbage. The Seabin is not meant for open waters and is specifically designed to clean up coastal areas, but it could be used as another effective solution to clean up flooded lakes and reservoirs, small rivers, or drains as well.
The Seabin showed itself to be capable when it made its debut trial in Asia at the Singapore Yacht Club, capturing a diverse array of trash and debris ranging from cigarette butts, plastic particles, food wrappers, foam particles, bottle caps, straws and stirrers, cans, plastic bags, etc.
It is estimated that the Seabin can remove 70,000 tonnes of garbage from the oceans annually, giving a ray of hope to impact the movement towards cleaning up the oceans.
The Singapore Yacht Club was its first mission in Asia, but it now operates in Western countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, Holland, Bermuda, Spain, France, and Montenegro.
Ceglinski admits that Seabin won’t be able to completely rid the ocean of plastic and other debris, but he insists it’s a step. “I’m not declaring Seabin to be the saviour of oceans” he explains. “It’s just assisting in cleaning up some of the muck we made there.”
Instead, the real solution lies in educating the world about the importance of plastic waste carefully.
With this idea, Seabin has established an open-source educational program, along with a global ambassador program for schoolchildren, to raise awareness about preventing plastic pollution mainly in our oceans.
Read More: One for the Ocean
