Will Seabins save our oceans? The Seabin Project

Seabins are being installed at harbors and marinas across the planet with the simple task of cleaning up garbage and possibly oil floating in the water. CNET met up with Seabin Project CEO Pete Ceglinski during an installation in Alameda, California, to see one in action.
Seabins want to be the garbage cans of the ocean: www.cnet.com/news/seabins-wan...
Seabin Project - seabinproject.com/
Subscribe to CNET: cnet.co/2heRhep
Check out our playlists: cnet.co/2g8kcf4
Download the new CNET app: cnet.app.link/GWuXq8ExzG
Like us on Facebook: / cnet
Follow us on Twitter: / cnet
Follow us on Instagram: bit.ly/2icCYYm
#ocean #seabin #oceanplastic

[@CNET]

Seabins want to be the garbage cans of the ocean - www.cnet.com/news/seabins-want-to-be-the-garbage-cans-of-the-ocean/

[@hausmaus5698]

It sucks!

[@Alrion1704]

nope, it will make the water in the "marinas" clean, but ocean trash is not affected by this.

[@songwriter7867]

My name is David & I reside just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I've been messaging your website for months & even called your headquarters on another continent, it took me 5 minutes to convince a fellow there to take my info. I've been trying to contact you in response to your organizations recent plea for help on a popular nightly news program & despite all my efforts I have not gotten one single response. I let you know that I firmly believe I've conceived a design for what could soon be actively cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Now I understand your hesitation as I am sure you recieve hundreds of messages claiming the same thing, so let me just say a few things on that. First of all, I doubt most people would keep trying this hard unless they're serious. Second, there's A LOT in life I suck at, but all my life the one thing I could do is look at things & see a better way to do them or look at a problem & figure out a way to solve it. I started looked at this problem as soon as I heard about it & it took some time but I honestly do believe that I figured it out. I took everything into consideration & I believe that your companies current ideas is ill conceived. I believe you got stuck on an idea & believe in it so much that you subconsciously maybe do not want to hear other ideas. My idea actively collects all garbage(including the smallest of it) 24/7 with zero machinery. It simply uses the power of gravity. It's a simple idea that can be put together quickly & we could soon have dozens out there actively collecting & packaging this garbage for easy pickup. Now I very much want to share my idea & am waiting to do so. Though this will unfortunately be my last attempt at trying to convince you to let me help. After this I will be seeking help thru other media platforms. Thank you.

[@thegreatestlad9725]

They are

[@cryingbroken8824]

Joe positive IS it for thé pélican (shown) if IT gets stuck in thé pull and rends up in thé bin?

[@kimoykalinago4154]

I'd like to order 9 billion of these please

[@faizal911gt]

kimoy kalinago just lemme pay for eh!

[@danmar007]

You'd probably get a pretty good discount!

[@CNET]

Yes please!

[@WadcaWymiaru]

And WHO will pay for that? Not you...

[@Chester123569]

like you have thirty-four trillion, four hundred twenty-five billion dollars

[@Tekrothebountyhunter]

This is actually a brilliant idea. I think it should become a standard part of every pier in all harbors and marinas.

[@tubesurfer23]

Looks nice but if it has to constantly use 500 watts of electricity to try and fill up a little bucket at a cost of 4k for each one, then it's not very efficient imo.

[@mp5wes]

tubesurfer23 well, the average home computer uses 500 watts per hour (I think desktops, not laptops though I could be wrong) and the video says they come by periodically to clean it out. As a start up company that's positioned to clean up pollution (even if it is for profit) this does seem interesting. I would like to know how much of the water of cleans per hour or day. Who knows, maybe there was a reason it was designed that size. Maybe they're be a bigger bucket in the future

[@TheBSideDJ]

you mean 250 to 300 watts for home computers (and around 50 watts for laptops), but you are right, it's better to use energy for purposes.

[@danilov114]

My PC + monitor goes around 60W while i watch this... 200-300 will be for good gaming PC in demanding game... 500W? Even setup with 1080ti gaming wont eat 500W only on peaks... with average around 350-420W

[@shadowblack1987]

That's not much... most marina's have solar panels installed too.

[@dubious6718]

I don't think its constant

[@jasonpatterson8091]

500 watts is in no way low power. 4 amps at line voltage is huge. That thing uses ~$1.20 in electricity every single day, $438 per year per unit on top of the huge installation cost. Suppose 20 of these were installed in a large marina. That's $80k for the units plus $9k per year in electricity PLUS paying someone to empty them multiple times per day. Pay two guys to walk around with garbage bags and pool skimmers and you'll clean more trash for less and waste less energy in the process.

[@sinterso2.036]

Yeah but these work around the clock, and like the video said, they can be modified to run off solar or wind during the day. Potentially cutting operating costs in half.

[@UnyieldingSeraph]

Häagen- Dazs still cheaper to pay a guy to float around in a kayak with a pool skimmer every other day

[@sinterso2.036]

Dan G, at minimum wage where I am ($10.00/h) that would be 36k a year. Sure these things are overpriced but in operating cost alone you could easily have 36 of these units active for the price of ONE dude working minimum wage. Using their recommended way to place the units, the nearest Marina by me can be serviced by only 33. So by investing in these units, you've just made the current workload on the maintenance crew much lighter.

[@jasonpatterson8091]

Häagen- Dazs I agree that the electricity cost could offset the cost of an employee, but again, we're talking about 500W of solar per unit, which is far from trivial, installed in an environment saturated with salt water. The solar is going to be steep as well - a 15kW DIY system is at least $15k for your 33 unit setup, and that's less power than required and doesn't include installation or maintenance. I don't know what the lifetime of these bins is intended to be - 10 years for a continuously operating saltwater pump system seems reasonably generous. For your system it would be ~$14k per year in material costs (10 year lifespan for the bins and a generous 20 year lifespan for the solar.) Add in $7k for nighttime electricity (this is definitely low, as it assumes 12 hours of peak solar production every single day) and you've got an annual bill of $21k just to have a system in place with the switch on. They're still going to have to pay someone to empty the things and there will definitely be maintenance.

[@DanielSmith-zu9yn]

The concept is good, additional engineering would make it better, and if it could be self powered by solar panels who cares what the energy consumption is. It is the ongoing maintenance that will make this problematic for use in the open ocean. If emptying the filters and consolidating the trash for periodic pickup could be automated, this could have real potential for reversing the plastic loading of the oceans...

[@Nouvertne25]

It would be great to see large scale Seabins the size of shipping containers put into ocean hot spots-powered by solar, with 24 hour cameras, and tracking devices.

[@ArizonaJewell]

I’d love to see one of those deployed in the pacific garbage patch!

[@pjbottoms839]

this would be great!

[@skittles2055]

🙌 💯

[@bvbxiong5791]

you gonna volunteer your boat and yourself to go change out the big bags every few days?

[@emirzmen]

Also as i know, the plastic in oceans are not just in the surface of the water but also in the below until a few meter or something

[@raid__4966]

To everyone saying “what about fish getting trapped.” So far after emptying out the bins no one has found any creatures yet, and if I’m being honest I don’t know how that would work.

[@zakluu3760]

RaiD __ They would need to jump or be extremely tiny fish. Fish also don't live near the surface, there's more depth that they swim and live in.

[@gumelini1]

RaiD __ there was actually a fish inside that bucket in the begining of the video

[@dakotaharris3007]

dead one

[@victor95pc]

yes he died there lol

[@ansh6370]

@@zakluu3760 what about the flying fish?

[@sweetiepienumber1]

Brilliant! Hopefully as these get larger fish won't get trapped. Doesn't look like it and I'm sure you have that worked out. Love the ocean energy method of powering it. Thanks and much success!

[@gumelini1]

World's most expensive bucket

[@danilov114]

nope but they will try to make one :0

[@josephcalabrese6337]

As long as it works as it is intended, It's worth it.

[@mozartips]

@@josephcalabrese6337 not at all. people can make it much cheaper. This just money grabbing thing and as long as sh**p like you are out there they can profit from it.

[@josephcalabrese6337]

@@mozartips Okay. Which one is more cheaper? An Automated bucket? Or a minimum wage human worker?

[@fuckheinschitt239]

@@mozartips clearly you are stupid idi0t

[@dogeramsey9154]

Amazing! And its on the surface so it's unlikely fish are going to get caught! Maybe bigger, more advanced versions can be put in deeper water if it's needed.

[@MRawash]

Wait! $4000 for a bucket and a mesh net?

[@jaypob]

Feel free to develop your own bucket and mesh net and sell them for less to undercut them and capture the market. Good luck.

[@MRawash]

jaypob, I got a better idea, Solar..Freakin'..Roadways!

[@vincentchen9513]

jaypob this is the dumpiest reply I have ever seen. When I saying something like “this washing machine is not cool”, does t mean I have to make one by myself before I can make the comment?

[@legoatjames2277]

Vincent Chen you don’t get it

[@pieceofcheese4228]

1000 dollars for a laptop!? It’s just metal and glass!

[@startup4u237]

Thank God there is pleople like you! I will spread the word to support this initiative. Thanks mate!

[@surreygeorge11]

The cost is a bit high right now, but I think the concept is sound. Shore based bins may keep docks and swimming areas clear, but cleaning an ocean is going to need larger, automated, ship-sized 'refuse processing units. Swimming pool size collectors, automated retrieval, and a minimal crew on board for ops. A good effort though, for the start.

[@melanieking4357]

Hi from Australia, you bet you this is a HUGE PROBLEM and am really glad to see that this is effective with fishing line and micro plastics, the amount of suffering of the marine life is very alarming to me and am just so grateful that ppl are addressing this problem. Thank you thank you thank you this brought tears of gratitude to my eyes keep up the FABULOUS WORK and l commend your INITIATIVE and EMPATHY that prompted your efforts. l salute you

[@marselmusic]

what about little sea creature that will get stuck in it? nemo #2????

[@63256325N]

Brilliant! Just brilliant. Large scale would be awesome! Best of luck to the developers.

[@clarasantiso8246]

Happy for the future of this bin!

[@SriHarsha2100]

I like it, Is there any possibility for a small creature Passing by to stuck in it?

[@Time4Technology]

Was wondering about that as well! Or even ducks?

[@magmafang7187]

A duck probably be too big. But define small scale

[@MichaelMa]

Maybe one day, Seabin drones powered by solar.... comes home when full. I backed the project 2 years ago with a tiny donation! Good to see it on the news!

[@JackIsNotInTheBox]

lmao get rekt

[@razzy1]

Easliy Displeased we have to start somewhere

[@skittles2055]

This is brilliant. And I love that it’s safe for marine life because it’s only sucking in things right along the top surface of the water (which almost surely would only be fish already dead and floating).

[@grannysweet]

Thank you for all your hard work.

[@MrHim981]

lol this my homework due to tomorrow

[@takira530]

Mine also😂

[@nublock942]

Mine too lmaooo

[@xxNoScoperLPHDKxx]

Same lol

[@melaniedavis6673]

mine's an assignment instead and it's due today lol

[@melaniedavis6673]

@Valeria Loja it was a geography report of plastic pollution and we had to analyse management strategies

[@fanatic101lol7]

Can they make a big version of this? I think that would be awesome :)

[@mansooralqahtani5419]

I think they make this size cus they don’t want people get trapped in it accidentally

[@hunter.1]

So awesome! Congratulations, its a amazing project and very innovative. Best regards from Brazil

[@JoffreyCones]

More of these the better, great work!

[@Yathuprem]

More like these CNET. Awesome video. Nice work

[@CarlosNietoArt]

I love this!

[@pranshusodhani2883]

Thanks for such a good video.a small step but huge leap for marine life

[@zaboblack3812]

'WICKED' shows what a little thought can do, keep up the good work guy's

[@imakedo4407]

A novel solution but I'm skeptical how efficient they could be. I thought they were passive units but 500 watts completely makes them a niche items. The emptying mechanism needs some work as well. Manually removing them limits the widespread usage.

[@eugenes9751]

So you took a pool skimmer and put it in the ocean..... Unless you can make this self-powered, the amount of energy required to move that much water will heavily outweigh the benefits this can provide. Especially because of the limited range of the thing, there's a reason why the debris collect in certain pockets and not scattered everywhere.

[@jaypob]

Citation for your (baseless) claims?

[@eugenes9751]

+Jaypob, Pool skimmers work because you have a constant current in a pool caused by the pump, that doesn't happen at a marina. Debris collects in pockets of calm water, and it stays there. You'd need a skimmer at every one of these points and it'd only collect what's around it. On top of that, consider the amount of energy required to move the water for their design. Each one of those probably require a 500-1000w pump, at $.17 cost of electricity, that's $4 of electricity use\day, $1500 per year, EACH. It'd be cheaper to hire a poolman to come and skim the water weekly. It works for a pool because the filter pumps are running anyways, so you don't need to use extra energy to do the skimming. Either you'd need to make the skimmers mobile, or create a current so that the debris moves around.

[@TheQuincy3]

Eugene S true, thats why we need solar panel technology advancing so the cost will be feasible.

[@0Tweaky0]

You can see it creates its own current, but it does depend on shape and size of dock, as long as you work out most efficient placement it will pull rubbish towards itself.

[@tuggspeedman9560]

Its 1-4K and he said it can run on electric solar or wind? I don't see the problem

[@m0yasi]

it's a really good start to saving the ocean

[@edwardsmith5650]

Great idea my friend. A worthy project, to say the least, but inefficient and costly, but the idea can certainly be perfected.

[@agerven]

Although I really like and endorse initiatives like this, and I'm sure they are of importance, there is always a yet unanswered question: - All the things we clean up from the oceans are unrecyclable. So what happens -which those- to them, after they are removed from the ocean. On which garbage heap or incinerator will they end next? We shouldn't have and shouldn't continue to dump waste in the ocean or anywhere else. So cleaning up combined with promotion and actual acceptance of recyclable products will be our future, if any.

[@raziphaz2219]

Recycling plastics is so unreliable, I think it's better to burry it safely than risk using all that money for the plastic to just get into the ocean again. I hope plastics are known as the blunder of our era, instead of defining the rest of humanity.

[@adraincarpenter4551]

I wondering if jellyfish would be affected by this

[@frozendoghouse]

Ty Smith and what is so obvious here that it shouldnt be discused ? Do jellyfish swim on the surface? Well some of them yes and some not. The size is important too so u can take your sarcasm and go read a book about marinelife...

[@negan4089]

DomenLazar damb you played yourself there

[@xplosionslite6439]

Ty Smith Oh yeah and the water beneath the surface isn't moving at all. No. It is. Also the majority of a jellyfish's mass is at the top, so if that's at the surface, which it will be to increase metabolism or photosynthesise, then it's going to end up in the bin and block it up. I've tried to push a jellyfish out of a rockpool myself with a stick when it was caught up there at low tide; imagine it like a gelatinous mass that can easily slop over the edge of something.

[@UnyieldingSeraph]

kbamm69 or small fish, the marina where I keep my boat is a popular place for fish to spawn, and is always full of tiny little fish

[@Budder1252]

Ty Smith your sarcasm is cancer

[@jonsimon5779]

Brilliant. Happy to see this!

[@thaminduKavinda]

Great work.

[@rotate85]

Very very inefficient. The volume of water that had to pumped to collect a little bit of trash is too high. They should have built a mobile skimming unit instead.

[@jaypob]

If a mobile skimming unit is superior, someone else will develop it and capture the market. Until then, these guys seem to be pretty successful.

[@danmar007]

+rotate85 We're waiting to see your first prototype in action.

[@whitehorns_2778]

I bet you can’t make one of these

[@haywood12]

This can be placed in marinas where boats are driving/sailing around. A mobile skimming unit would be in danger of sinking in a marina after a crash with a boat and it's propellers, also damaging the boat. Also it can be driven on solar power which makes it totally self efficient

[@Automedon2]

It's all about baffling the most people with bullshit

[@Primordial_Radiance]

What about small fish that get sucked in...

[@marselmusic]

yeah ikr?

[@izaakredmon9806]

Raid Leet welp. They gone

[@Aithusssa]

I was thinking the same thing. I was looking for anyone else who watched this who was thinking the same thing.

[@zoutuk7685]

Im sure they mentioned in the video they NEVER had a fish in the bucket.

[@Ohmybagod]

Fish don’t swim on the surface of water.

[@renogearzyoutubechannel9292]

awesomeee , simpel , traps, collected, and clean

[@adamcurtis83]

LOOOOVE it! Please come to Perth Western Australia!

[@terryfrederickson2774]

500 watts!!! 24 hrs a day and $4,100 a pop, no thanks

[@magnanimousknight1162]

I can see governments buying these seabins. Especially in tourist areas.

[@floxy709]

u are obv not a whale

[@kingkiller1451]

@Terry Frederickson lol no worse than actually using a gaming pc, and not targeted at individual consumer sale but at sale to organizations.

[@dante7430]

It's called solar power

[@wheelslifts851]

you don't realize how much wasted man hours marina workers use up picking up trash, you buy 10 or 20 of those(maybe less, don't know how efficient they are) and never have to pay someone to pick up trash again, I bet from a 5 or 10 year standpoint they are great.

[@SylvanasWindrunnerResurrected]

4000 dollars per bucket. Yeeeeeaaaahh..

[@SylvanasWindrunnerResurrected]

Or you could spend 40 dollars rather than human extinction.

[@thelister4910]

Or you could just spend 2 minutes a day picking up some trash. That will be more productive than this thing running 24 hours a day.

[@SylvanasWindrunnerResurrected]

Even worse.

[@odra873]

You just burned a tree so don't educate us about the environment !

[@SylvanasWindrunnerResurrected]

@Odra loooool

[@ilikebackrubs]

Great work!👍

[@louisleonardo6521]

Imagine having one at ever docking station at the marinas, the marina would be so clean

[@martine8056]

One dump truck of plastic is dumped in the ocean every minute. Any attempt at a cure is futile until you stop the bleeding.

[@explicit862]

Governments are to stupid to stop it though

[@franciscosoares7154]

At first i was like wow, how amazing.But $4100? sounds like a lot of profit to me, if this projects sole purpose was truly doing positive for the environment, it would not be that expensive trust me lmao.

[@lennytompkins9767]

As unit production goes up, the cost of individual units would go down. It's expensive due to initial development costs. Economy of scale increases cost efficiency.

[@CutieRingoJoy]

Units are cheap

[@wafflebro1556]

They need the money to continue the project

[@knik1996]

Good for marinas and places close to the shore

[@timbenzel1751]

The whole world needs to see this and everyone should buy one.

[@vincentchen9513]

500watt...running 24*7...it consumes 4000 units of electricity...

[@marzuqahmed218]

David Attenborough would be proud.

[@Ou8y2k2]

Attenborough died from plastic inhalation.

[@dainironfoot5198]

He's still alive.

[@lachlandavenport293]

r/wooosh

[@dainironfoot5198]

Oh man, I got woooshed? That's a first.

[@MaxiiBoii23]

Dáin Ironfoot r/wooosh

[@tomastorqemada9101]

great idea. what happe with water level???

[@sadistic_key]

I was doing a project in school to help the environment, and I came across this... I now have nothing to do now.

[@PeopleLoveShorts]

We need couple of trillions of these to save our ocean

[@AngiePup]

What if some fish get stuck in there. That would suck. Edit: saw one. Rip.

[@poskeegget8043]

Saw this today, and I want one for myself. And if possible, one for every harbour in the world.

[@kaushaltimilsina7727]

Wow! Such an amazing idea!

[@m.s.l.7746]

This is proof that suckers are born every day. How can people be so blind?

[@DiddyBop_]

Imagine having to empty millions of these a day lol to make a difference

[@seliparemas]

Tq for this invention...

[@alisonheathcote422]

Brilliant. Thank you Seabins.

[@mrupermad]

Amazing, keep it up

[@matthewbarneshi]

Can fish and other animals get accidentally stuck in these bins?

[@doppled]

if they jump into it, otherwise no

[@Automedon2]

no, they say, but seaweed can and will fill up those little baskets very quickly

[@patrast4464]

Brilliant . Keep up the Tremendous work ! 2 Thumps UP

[@TheRealKingVictor]

We need more of these out there!! KZbin algorithm are you there?

[@oliverkandlhofer2707]

Is the bucket made of plastic. 🤔

[@RaffyMaBoi]

Oliver Kandlhofer looks like it. They can use the recycled plastic for it tho.

[@CarlJohnson-ly5do]

most of the plastic is underwater and at the bottom

[@haveiszalfaroqie1628]

Carl Johnson666 There're reasons why lifejackets are made from composite-plastic...

[@nikolaybambov4191]

great job, keep it up

[@user-kx7wk8gi3g]

I am not from UAE but I truly appreciate the cleanliness maintained by UAE government.

[@4evatube69]

$4000 might as well be $4M , you wanted to do something good and ended up being like the rest “greedy”

[@sinterso2.036]

How do you figure? Elaborate to me as to why $4000 is suddenly $4M

[@LumiDeluxe]

Because the price is so hilarious that they might as well be asking $4M, It's a bucket with a pump. Nowhere near the worth of $4000.

[@james-uh4ne]

You do realize the project will cover up the whole ocean right? Cuz I dont think 4000$ worth of seabins can do that.

[@jrydkndy]

Then just steal some seabins lol

[@aprtuned75]

That is awesome I live on the east coast in Rhode island. I am on the water all the time and the trash from the city tourist is out of control here in the summer. These would be a great help few meters of the beaches in larger scale.

[@lamb-slayer1372]

How much maintenance is required? How do the tides affect the seabin?

[@lasarith2]

This guys doing what the governments should be doing instead, of bickering like kids ... Anyway 🤷🏼‍♂️ Respect to this guy 👍

[@HoldLeadersAccountable]

Great video thanks

[@cybergod77]

It's like taking a fish tank protein skimmer to the next level. However, I feel it should be 5-10x it's current size to be truly effective

[@jasonrichter497]

Neat idea, but it does seem it misses the point. Solar or waved powered would be closer to the point. Also what bin/filter did they make to catch the plastic filters when they decay?

[@talialee6364]

We have them in Turkey now and we love it

[@L_U-K_E]

Very smart invention

[@cup1den303]

Does anyone else find it satisfying to see the ocean being cleaned up LOL

[@Star_cab]

Seems like this could be useful for oil cleanup.

[@mp5wes]

Interesting news. This must be shared with the public! ☺️

[@zackcovell]

thank you!

[@lm0026]

What do you do with the trash later though?

[@jag2944]

This is awesome. I hope all countries will have these floating trash bins. Clean up our oceans

[@rubbertoe5615]

we need more than a thousand of these around San Francisco just to get started no kidding

[@miloligons25]

The world ♥️'s you and says thank you.

[@bdgoins1]

Thank you I wish everyone would help in some shape form or fashion

[@Amuzic]

it is only effective if built in very large size(like a stadium in case of an ocean or like a pool in case of a river/lakes/bays) and then powered using wave/wind turbine or solar.

[@sam_poder]

this is great idea

[@johnbenedicto.sampana6960]

That is just awesome!!😍

[@jk35260]

It is pretty energy intensive since water is pretty heavy. It can only suck trash that is near it since surface area is proportionately equal to the square of radius. So it will not be useful in still waters and needs external force to help push the trash from a distance towards the bin. Condition in the ocean is harsh. Biofouling will mean it requires regular maintenance.

[@marzoandzaipa1210]

These will be everywhere sooner rather than later 💪🏼 what a great invention. If I was an investor I would put all my money into this

[@MABeerBrewer]

Nothing but respect for this endeavor, and no slight to the person who said this, but what a striking statement: "Its gonna be food containers, water bottles, cigarette butts, um, little pieces of like twine and just the stuff you would see blowing around in any type of natural environment".

[@lukaswint7067]

love this idea, I am very interested

[@Gerardo11]

This is really great!

[@thedoor4]

This is a really good idea!

[@prakashsuresh9189]

Really awesome project

[@jaymounes9473]

I really like this idea but also feel pretty strongly some kind of passive system could somehow be engineered to perform a similar role.

[@fatinelbouhssini1120]

is the pump working non stop?

[@DEATHANDSADDNESS]

OUTSTANDING! 👍