Social Innovation
The Seabin was created to suck up rubbish from marinas around the world. It's a simple but brilliant idea and the company has already removed over 100,000kg of trash from the ocean.
"If we have rubbish bins on land, why not in the water?" With millions of tons of plastic waste being dumped into oceans every year and plastic bags even sinking to the lowest point on Earth, it's a question that really should have been asked sooner. It's a question that Pete Ceglinski, co-founder of social enterprise Seabin, wanted to discover the answer to and it led to the creation of innovative floating rubbish bins that are cleaning up our oceans.
Ceglinski, a boat builder and sailor by trade, founded Seabin in 2015 with fellow boat builder Andrew Turton. As the name hints, Seabin acts as a floating trash collector and the duo have also created the Seabin Foundation, offering schools access to education about the pollution caused by plastics. They also share practical solutions to help inspire the next generation to recycle and think about their impact on the planet.
So how does the Seabin actually work? Water is pumped into the device's catch bag, which can then filter macro and micro plastics, micro fibers and general trash. The floating bins can also be equipped with oil absorbent pads that suck-up petroleum-based surface oils, which could be fatal to marine life.
It's an amazingly simple idea that's already led to the removal of nearly 115,000kg of ocean waste, with 719 Seabins in over 28 countries collecting nearly 2,000kg of rubbish every day.
"The inspiration was the debris, litter and pollution in the water itself and a desire to not surf, sail and swim with it," Ceglinski explains. "My business partner and I were both boat builders, working on high performance racing yachts, including the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race, and traveling around the world. In every country, the issue of marine litter was the same; it just varies in volume, branding and what language is on the label."
"We made the first six Seabins for our pilot partners ourselves by hand using fibreglass and steel, because our tooling and production was so late," says Ceglinski, who's based in Byron Bay, Australia. "The office team and myself in our workshop, it was hectic, but we met our deadlines and proved ourselves to be trustworthy."
Perhaps surprisingly for a company that's already produced hundreds of Seabins for use all around the world, the organisation is made up of just two full-time employees, with a further three part-time employees on the books. With limited resources, that means outsourcing manufacturing, distribution and sales to a marine manufacturer.
"They had the existing global network and we could fast-track market entry using this existing network," Ceglinski tells us. "Our role is essentially as project managers, technical support, advisers, strategists and marketing managers, who design and develop new and future technologies."
Outsourcing manufacturing has helped Seabin to ramp up their operations and meet increasing demand from businesses who want to help the environment.
"Lately there's been this insane demand from corporates wanting to put their brand on the Seabins as sponsors, donors and as corporate CSR campaigns," explains Ceglinski. "For us, it's amazing. We get to partner with some amazing brands and get to install Seabins into places that possibly couldn't afford it previously."
There's more to the process than simply selling floating trash cans however. Seabin is just as much about education.
"For corporates, we don't just sell them a Seabin, we sell an educational package," Ceglinski explains. "That includes a Seabin data collection program, community events and a STEM program for local schools. We're looking for a partner that wants to help create a legacy for local school kids and community groups."
If that legacy comes to fruition, Ceglinski is looking forward to surfing in much cleaner waters in the future. The Seabin creator highlights new technology as one area for improvement, looking at introducing recycled materials, renewable energy and even smarter Seabins. Could we see floating bins capable of sorting out their own rubbish in the future?
"Our main goal is to have the lowest carbon footprint possible, and the end goal is to not have a need for Seabins," Ceglinski points out. "We're working to do ourselves out of business."
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