SeaBin

How does it work?

The Seabin sits in the water and moves up and down with the range of the tide, collecting all floating debris. Water is drawn in from the surface and passes through a fine mesh catch bag inside the Seabin, with a submersible water pump capable of displacing 25,000 litres per hour plugged directly into either a 110V or 220V outlet.

Made from recyclable material, a Seabin will catch floating litter such as plastic bottles, crisp packets and sweet wrappers as well as intercepting microfibres and microplastics as small as 2mm in diameter.

Easily equipped with oil absorbent pads, the Seabin is also able to absorb petroleum-based surface oils and detergent predominant in most marinas and harbours around the world.

How well does the Seabin perform?

The Seabin can catch an estimated 3.9 kgs of floating debris per day or 1.4 tons per year (depending on weather and debris volumes) but can cost as little as 80p a day to run. Cigarette butts are the most commonly caught item in the SeaBin.

Who uses the Seabin?

Worldwide there are 860 Seabins in use across multiple marinas and harbours, which have collected just over 1,200,000kg of rubbish in the last two years.

Leicester Outdoor Pursuit Centre

Earlier this year, the Leicester Outdoor Pursuit Centre, situated downstream from the city centre on the River Soar, installed its first Seabin. For eight years the centre has carried out monthly litter picks, on foot and in canoes, in an attempt to reduce the litter along the river, but manager, Stuart Fraser, wanted to do more.

“I stumbled across a YouTube clip of the Seabin and thought it could be the answer to chipping away at the litter issue every day, in addition to our monthly effort,” he says. “As an independent charity we needed funding, so I set about trying to make that happen.”

Support and funding to buy and install the Seabin was provided by the Coop, as part of its work with local communities, and the Canal and Rivers Trust. “We’d love to have another one,” continues Stuart. “It could double up as an educational activity as part of an environmental or science project. We’d just need to generate enough income to sustain another one.

“Its early days with regards to impact, but from the amount of rubbish we’re collecting there’s certainly a lot of waste which isn’t making it further down river and out to the sea, affecting marine life. Most notably the tiny bits of plastic which might not get picked up on litter picks and are extremely hazardous to fish and bird life, this is where the SeaBin really comes into its own.”

MDL ‘s Ocean Village Marina – Southampton

MDL Marinas Ocean Village Marina’s Seabin was installed in December last year and represents a collaboration between several local organisations as part of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s marine project, Secrets of the Solent. The Seabin was funded by DP World Southampton and is being maintained by MDL Marinas.

This award-winning piece of technology is positioned in the North East corner of the marina, where prevailing winds cause the most litter to accumulate.

Almost a year later ‘Celia’, as the Seabin is affectionately known, is going strong. “She’s been a great addition to the marina infrastructure and has been very effective at keeping her side of the marina clean and detritus free, assisting my team with the overall cleanliness of the marina,” says Scott Farquharson, Ocean Village Marina Manager.

“Being on the edge of the Solent we can have rubbish floating in from elsewhere. There’s always lots of organic material, like leaves and twigs, but there’s also a huge amount of plastic, mostly bottles and bags and, from time to time, a solitary flip flop. We usually empty Celia at least twice a day, it’s very easy to do.

“Working by the water, we’re passionate about the marine environment. Celia is making a real difference the levels of plastic and other litter in our marina and we’d love to have another Seabin to be able to double our efforts.”

Whitehaven Marina – Cumbria

Driven forward by the staff and young people of the Whitehaven Harbour Youth Project, six Seabins are to be installed at Whitehaven Marina, all of which have been funded by Sellafield Ltd’s Social Impact, Multiplied programme.

“We’re really pleased to have been able to add six Seabins to Whitehaven Marina making this the largest SeaBin installation in Europe, and one of the largest in the world, along with Sydney and Dubai. The SeaBins remove both large scale and crucially micro plastics from the water,” says Stephen Walter of the Whitehaven Harbour Youth Project.

“The waste ends up in the marina by washing in from the culverts that run under the town, and also from the side of the marina itself. The Seabins are a huge support in removing unwanted waste from the marina, and subsequently stopping it before it goes out to sea and causing further damage to the marine environment.”