A V5- Hybrid Seabin has been installed in London’s developed docklands. This installation, the second in the UK following one in Portsmouth Harbour in late 2017, seems to have been financed by the Butterfield Group, a Bermuda-based international financial services company.
The Good Hotel London, “a unique 4-star floating hotel committed to social causes”, agreed to house and maintain the Seabin, in line with its declared environmental aims.
A Seabin is essentially a floating rubbish bin designed to be placed at marinas, docks and commercial ports as a partial solution to the current global littering problem. Water is syphoned in from the surface and passes through a catch bag inside the device. “Clean” water (well, free of debris, including microplastics down to 2mm in size) is then pumped back into the dock area leaving litter and other debris to be disposed of properly. It also has the potential to collect oils and pollutants floating on the water surface.
The Seabin Project began in 2015 as a crowd-funded initiative before securing corporate sponsorship from global pilot partners, including Butterfield, in 2017. Under the Pilot programme, pre-production Seabin technology was deployed in marinas in Bermuda (Hamilton), the US (San Diego), Finland (Helsinki), Montenegro, Spain (Palma), Sydney and France (La Grande Motte).
Butterfield is assisting the Seabin Project to showcase its innovative water-cleaning technology through sponsored installations in the jurisdictions in which it operates (to wit: The Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Mauritius, Singapore and Switzerland, as well as the UK). To date, Butterfield has deployed Seabins in Bermuda (2), the Cayman Islands and Halifax, Canada.
Alpa Bhakta, CEO of Butterfield Mortgages Limited said: “Marine pollution and litter is an extremely worrying matter, and plastic waste in London’s Docklands should be as much as a concern as it is in some of our bases that are further afield. We are proud to be a part of the Seabin Project, as it is one way we can begin to help address this global problem, and want to see the use of Seabin’s innovative technology to advance the cause in as many locations as possible.”
Pete Ceglinski, CEO and Co-Founder of the Seabin Project said: “We joined forces with Butterfield in 2017 and have been pleased to work with them to get Seabins out to as many of their locations as possible, where they are helping raise awareness of the problem of ocean pollution in those communities, and highlighting how technology can help tackle the problem. With Butterfield’s assistance, we’ve put Seabins into highly visible locations in Bermuda (where we got a pre-production version in place in time for the 2017 America’s Cup), the Caribbean, North America, and now London. We look forward to working with them to place Butterfield-sponsored installations in Asia and Africa, as well. It’s been a great partnership.”
According to the project’s website, Seabins are currently priced at between 2,700€ and 3,300€ per unit, depending on quantity.
