Seabin

Remediation Strategy

Collection

Plastic Type

Macroplastics

Invention Category

Drones and Robots

Used?

Yes

Included in analysis?

Yes

Location Invented

Australia

Year^*

2013

Description

Automated bucket uses a pump to capture floating debris, including plastic.

Effectiveness or Ecological Impact

Non-peer-reviewed Effectiveness

The Seabin removes an estimated 1.5 tons of waste per year and its catch bag holds 20kg (Seabin Project - Cleaner Oceans for a Brighter Future, n.d.).

Peer-reviewed Effectiveness

It collects up to 1.4 tons of plastic/year, or 3.9 kg of plastic/day. It collected up to 3.6 tons/day in total (Winterstetter et al., 2021)

Ecological Impact

There is a high amount of bycatch (n = 573 animals) (Paris et al., 2022).

References

Edwards, T. (2016, August 22). Inventing to Clean Up the Ocean [Text]. Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. https://invention.si.edu/inventing-clean-ocean; Seabin, a new kind of floating bin. (2019). [Plastics le Mag]. Nom du site. https://plastics-themag.com/Seabin-a-new-kind-of-floating-bin

Non-peer-reviewed Effectiveness

“Seabin project—Cleaner oceans for a brighter future,” n.d

Peer-reviewed Effectiveness

Winterstetter, A., Grodent, M., Kini, V., Ragaert, K., & Vrancken, K. C. (2021). A Review of Technological Solutions to Prevent or Reduce Marine Plastic Litter in Developing Countries. Sustainability, 13(9), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094894

Ecological Impact

Paris, A., Kwaoga, A., & Hewavitharane, C. (2022). An assessment of floating marine debris within the breakwaters of the University of the South Pacific, Marine Studies Campus at Laucala Bay. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 174, 113290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113290;

* Year designates the year invented; if the year invented was unavailable, the earliest year that an article about the technology was published was used.