These floating trashcans could soon be cleaning all of the Earth's oceans

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Seabin Project)

published 26 February 2019

Plastic, cigarette butts, fishing lines, rope — nothing's safe from the Seabin.

The Seabin is a floating waste receptacle that can be installed in calm water. It pulls in debris, which is captured and trapped in a bag that can hold up to 44 pounds of trash. Because it makes noise, sea creatures stay far away, making it safe for wildlife. The device was created by Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski, two surfers from Perth who were tired of finding so much garbage in the ocean. After launching a crowdfunding campaign, they raised enough money to produce the Seabin, and it's finally being used in the wild.

The city of Cockburn in Western Australia recently placed a Seabin in the Port Coogee boat marina, and in about a week, more than 12 types of plastic have been caught. Nicki Ledger, the city's waste education officer, told ABC that the Seabin has captured "a lot of little plastics, lots of polystyrene beads, cigarette butts. We're getting these out of the water so they can't do any harm to our local wildlife." It's a small first step, but definitely fulfilling Seabin's mission of helping rid oceans of pollution. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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