News / Harbourside
Helping to clean Bristol’s Floating Harbour with a ‘Seabin’
Bristol is a city built on water, with many reminders of our time as a historic trading port still visible across the city centre.
The Floating Harbour remains one of the most picturesque parts of the city, and yet a closer examination often reveals a side rarely viewed behind the Instagram filters – with rubbish thoughtlessly thrown into the water presenting an unedifying view for the camera lens.
But this rubbish could soon be collected in an ingenious contraption invented by two Australian surfers.
is needed now More than ever
The Seabin is a floating bin that sucks rubbish off the water’s surface. It can collect 1.5kg of waste a day and can hold 12kg before it needs emptying.
Up to 90,000 plastic bags can be removed by the Seabin each year, as well as plastic bottles, cigarette butts and other waste. It is capable of sucking up surface oil and detergents and can collect microplastics and fibres as small as 2mm in diameter.
Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton invented the Seabin to clean marinas and harbours, where rubbish concentrates due to the tide.
A Seabin was installed in Portsmouth harbour in October 2017 – with Peter and Andrew estimating that a typical marina would probably require four devices, which cost £3,000 each.
The Bristol Seabin Project is now raising funds online to buy at least one Seabin for the Floating Harbour, with the scheme supported by both the Harbour Master and the city council.
To donate to the Crowdfunder campaign, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/get-a-sea-bin-for-bristol-harbour-side
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