An amount of seawater equivalent to about 5,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools has been cleared of microplastics and other pollution – thanks to a small start-up founded by two surfers in Australia.
According to their company Seabin’s latest annual report, the Sydney-based startup’s maritime cleaning and tracking operations successfully expanded to Los Angeles and Philadelphia last year.
After just a year of operation at Marina Del Ray in Los Angeles, Seabin’s ocean skimmers have reportedly collected more than 7,300 pounds of litter from ocean surfaces off the coast of California.
The Seabins can also use special oil-absorbing pads, which can wipe away the dirty sheen from fuel contamination, surface oils, soaps and detergents.
After just one year of operation at Marina Del Ray in Los Angeles, Seabin’s ocean skimmers have collected more than 7,300 pounds of litter from marine surfaces off the coast of California
Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton (pictured), from Perth, spent four years developing the ‘Seabin’ in an attempt to solve one of the biggest problems facing the world’s oceans – they came up with their automated, waste-skimming prototype
Seabin reported $1 million in revenue last spring, thanks to its new business model.
The company now sells detailed environmental data collected during its cleanup efforts to corporate sponsors looking to revamp their own image.
“Our pivot in 2020 was important,” said Seabins CEO and co-founder Pete Ceglinski.
“We abandoned a business model that spanned 53 countries to focus on cleaning up entire cities: a free service to our old customers, paid for by corporations.”
Ceglinski – an industrial engineer and lifelong surfer who co-founded Seabin with a surfing buddy in 2015 – said the crucial change that made this possible was a pivot to collecting “credible and transparent wildlife recovery data.”
This lucrative new collection of environmental data, according to Ceglinski, means Seabin “adds value to our customers’ sustainability portfolios while staying true to our mission of creating a positive impact on the ocean.”
Seabin’s 12V submersible pump only draws water from the top 10 millimeters of the water surface: high enough to capture free-floating debris without trapping marine life
The current version of the Seabin, the V5 Hybrid, runs on 110V/120V power at a cost that the company estimates is less than $1 per day.
The unit’s 12V submersible pump only draws water from the top 10 millimeters of the water’s surface, high enough to capture free-floating debris without accidentally catching fish or other marine life.
Seabin’s V5 collection bag, which can filter microplastics up to 2 millimeters in diameter, is made from a durable, jute-like natural fiber called ‘Hessian’ or ‘Jute’.
“Seabin is currently testing fish deterrent technology,” the company reported a recent specification sheet‘to ensure marine life is safe around the V5 hybrid.’
“But so far this hasn’t been a problem.”
According to the company, even more sustainable variants can power Seabin’s energy-efficient pumps with wind or solar energy.
Seabin’s V5 collection bag, which can filter microplastics up to 2 millimeters in diameter, is made from a durable, jute-like natural fiber called ‘Hessian’ or ‘Jute’
The company is now selling detailed environmental data collected during its cleanup efforts to corporate sponsors looking to freshen up their own images
As Ceglinski told the World Economic Forum, Seabin hopes to continue the “100 Cities by 2050” campaign. Sydney and Los Angeles have become the first two ‘smart cities’ within this new project.
With the Marina Del Rey project in LA, the team expects to remove approximately 54 tons of microplastics, plastic fibers and other items from California’s coast by 2025, with nearly four tons already collected.
But the smaller pilot program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has also shown promise.
According to their latest annual report, six Seabin units in the Delaware River collected a total of 879,718 marine litter items in 2022.
The Philadelphia project filtered about 795 million gallons of water from the river, Seabin’s report said, or about 300 swimming pools of Olympic-sized fluid.
When they first conceived their idea, Ceglinski and his surfing friend Andrew Turton met in Perth, Australia, but lived as surf nomads in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
“In another life I was a product designer and my job was to make plastic products,” Turton said Surfer Magazine in 2016.
“After a while I realized we didn’t need the stuff I was making, so I stopped,” he recalls. ‘There’s nothing worse than being surrounded by plastic.’
As his co-founder Ceglinski told Daily Mail Australia in 2019, the duo managed to raise $300,000 to launch Seabin through investment website Indiegogo in just two months – far exceeding their original goal of $230,000.
In those early days, when the company’s business model sold Seabins directly to cities and municipalities, Ceglinski traveled the world to get up close and personal with the many bizarre things that people just throw away.
“The weirdest thing we collected,” he said, “was probably a cowboy boot with a mini pineapple in it that was found in San Diego.”
However, seeing so much of humanity’s actual waste did not give him pause for thought or leave Ceglinski demoralized.
“The current climate crisis is dire,” he said, “but as an eternal optimist, I believe we can solve it or at least do our best to learn from our mistakes.”