Marine bins help clean up

Superyacht refit shipyard, MB92 Barcelona, said it has collected 570kg of waste, the equivalent of 65,000 33cl plastic bottles, over the past year thanks to two Seabin Project Seabins installed in its facilities in the Port of Barcelona.

“The waste included everything from industrial plastics, bottles, cans, packaging, disposable PPE such as masks, textiles to organic ocean waste,” said MB92.

Debris management

Installed in 2019 as part of MB92’s sustainability plan, the Seabins manages the debris transported into the port from the Mediterranean by the tide. Despite the large quantity of waste collected throughout 2020, the shipyard estimates that, in a year without the global pandemic, the figure could have been as much as 780kg.

How the bins work

The Seabins work by moving up and down with waves, collecting all waste that passes through. Water is sucked from the surface using a submersible water pump (capable of displacing up to 25,000 litres per hour) and passes through a collection bag inside the sea bin itself. Each unit plugs directly into an electrical outlet that, once activated, enables the water to be pumped out while retaining the debris within the sea bin bag.

The shipyard’s maintenance team is responsible for monitoring and emptying the contents. The results of the extraction are then sent to the Seabin Project team for analysis and research purposes.

Each Seabin has the capacity to collect about 6kg of waste in its basket, which may not be enough on stormy days or during rough seas. The Seabin Project is working to improve the results for those days when the tide brings greater amounts of waste.