Seabins Start Cleaning the Ocean Surface by Removing Plastic and Cigarette Butts


TheMerkle Ocean Pollution Seabin

If it were not for the human race, the ocean floors wouldn’t be littered with so much trash. Thankfully, some members of our species are actively working on a solution to ensure this problem gets solved sooner or later. Over in the United Kingdom, the region’s first seabin has been installed. When fully operational, this contraption will be capable of collecting around 80,000 plastic bottles from the ocean every single year.

A Seabin to Pick up Your Trash From the Ocean

Pollution comes in many different ways on planet Earth. While most people look toward carbon monoxide, for the time being, we have also successfully trashed most of the waterways and oceans on the planet in the process. Mainly pollution due to plastic bottles is an area which needs to be addressed sooner or later. That is exactly what the new seabin located at Portsmouth harbor aims to achieve. It is the first device of its kind in the UK as well.

On paper, the concept of a seabin makes a lot of sense. It is capable of collecting and disposes of different types of debris. This includes bottles, plastic bags, and cigarette butts, to name a few things. It is expected such a solution can effectively remove over 80,000 plastic bottles from the ocean floor over the course of one year. It may only be a drop in the bucket at first, but if more of these devices are deployed, the oceans will slowly become a lot cleaner again.

To put this into perspective, the seabin has a capacity of 1.5 kilograms per day. It is capable of holding a total mass of 12 kilograms at full capacity. This does mean it needs to be cleaned out on a regular basis, but it is a small price to pay for a cleaner environment. In most cases, cleaning the oceans of debris is done through boats. That is an inefficient and rather expensive way to achieve the same goal, since this seabin is pretty much autonomous until it needs to be cleaned out.

Under the hood, the seabin is made up of a large fiber net and a pump. Any floating debris gathered on the surface can be collected without any problems. Moreover, it seems the contraption can also suck in oil, which will be of great value to marine life all around the planet. Its autonomous operations rely on creating a water flow through the bin and bringing all harmful elements with it. Said items – which can be as small as 2mm in diameter – are then caught in the net and the clean water exists the bin on the other side.

Most people will realize by now this seabin isn’t capable of catching everything floating around on the ocean’s surface. It is an important first step in the right direction, but calling it a perfect solution would be a bit of a stretch. Seeing this project in action is a pretty big step forward and may lead to more of these seabins being deployed around the globe in the near future. For now, deployment is limited to sheltered harbors and marinas.

The current plan is to make this seabin commercially available come November of 2017. That is a positive sign as well, as it shows there is a lot of room for growth when it comes to creating leaner oceans. If all things go according to plan, these seabins will become utterly obsolete in the future, but the company seems to be more than fine with that concept. An interesting thought, as it would make their product redundant. Then again, it is evident this firm isn’t doing this for the big money by any means.