San Diego’s Cabrillo Isle Marina is getting some assistance in staying trash-free from a unique little helper.
The Seabin is a bin made of recycled materials that catches trash floating in marinas, docks, and commercial ports.
Water is sucked in from the surface and passes through the bag that lines the bin. Then, water is pumped back into the ocean, leaving litter, debris and a percentage of oils and pollutants trapped inside the bag.
Once the bag is full, it can be removed and the trash can be disposed of responsibly; the Seabin can then be lined with a new bag and continue its good work.
The Cabrillo Isle Marina at the San Diego Bay in downtown San Diego will be a pilot location where the Seabin will be tested for several months, the Seabin Project says.
"Daily removing [of] that debris is a huge step in the right direction and hopefully also gets the message out that we haven't solved the littering and recycle and reuse issue,” Tony Reese, General Manager of Cabrillo Isle Marina told NBC 7. “Even though we've come a long way, there's still a lot of work to be done."
The new V5 Seabin will be collecting debris at the marina in the hopes of ironing out any kinks with the new prototype before the new units hit commercial production.
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Co-Founder of the Seabin Project, Andrew Turton, came up with the idea of a bin collecting floating trash after years of seeing debris build up in areas where it could easily be disposed. He thought there needed be a solution to this particular pollution problem.
Turton joined with fellow Co-Founder Pete Ceglinski onto the idea of the Seabin, where Ceglinski developed the prototype.
“Everybody is aware of the ocean problem with plastics. We came in at a time when the world was screaming for a solution,” said Ceglinski in a press release.
“We quit our jobs, took all our money and put our hearts and souls into making this happen. Our end goal is to live in a world where we do not need Seabins. That's why we also roll-out educational and research programs,” he stated.
The Seabin team says that the real solution is not just having the Seabins, although they say it is a step in the right direction, but that education and research and a dynamic partnership with Seabin’s pilot partners are the goals towards their mission of cleaner oceans.
