Turton, who is a boat builder, sailor and surfer who looks like they just fell out of bed onto the beach, started the company a few years ago with Ceglinski, a industrial designer and surfer, who also looks like he just fell out of bed and onto beach. There must have been a bit of an ocean roll because Turton conceived the Seabin concept after numerous sailing trips around the world and witnessing the amount of pollution in the marinas, which are a kind of catchment for travelling rubbish along with whatever amasses locally.
Looks pretty much always deceive of course and in reality, these two are the developers of a brilliant little system that cleans up marinas and indirectly cleans up the world. Seabin ia a kind of personal ocean trash can. But because rubbish tends to collect in marinas, you get to clean up everyone else's trash as well.I admit that when I first saw it, I wondered why you'd bother. One little trash can in one big ocean. But this little bin is a powerhouse, easy to deploy and at around $5,000 is affordable to Marina owners and pretty much everyone who parks a hull in a marina and tosses in money (definition of boat owner).The fantastic thing about the Seabin is that it's not funded by government or big business. That's not to say there is anything wrong with that kind of funding - it's more that point that the product involves and engages consumers broadly, making it easier to lead to much bigger things. At the same time, it doesn't put all bets into one big assed make or break expensive idea like Boyan Slat's Ocean Clean Up system. (Who I still fervently hope will succeed.) While I acknowledge the comparison is a little unfair, it does accentuate the point that many options make for solutions that stick.The Seabin Project was initially crowd funded on Indiegogo in late 2015 and raised around $378,000. You can buy a Seabin online by contacting Seabin.
The Seabin is a little basket that sucks in water and rubbish, which gets caught in a catch bag filter. The water is then pumped back into the marina, leaving the rubbish behind to be disposed of each day.
Ceglinski says on average the Seabins catch around 1.5 kg of rubbish per day, which equates to a massive half a ton a year. He says there's no risk to wildlife and only a few small fish have been caught in Seabins.
"WE FOUND THAT THE NUMBER ONE ITEM THE SEABINS ARE CATCHING IS CIGARETTE BUTTS. THE NUMBER TWO IS PLASTIC PARTICLES, AND THE THIRD ONE IS FOOD WRAPPERS," CEGLINSKI SAID. "PLUS THE OIL AS WELL WHICH IS ALWAYS PRESENT IN A MARINA."