Auslan tour - SeabinAuslan tour - Seabin 

Look in the water. Can you see a floating bin? That's a Seabin!

A Seabin is a cross between a rubbish bin and a pool skimmer.

How does a Seabin work?

Inside the Seabin, there is a water pump. The pump pulls water through the top of the Seabin. There is a bag inside the Seabin which catches the rubbish. Then the clean water flows back out into the Harbour.

The catch bag catches plastic bottles, wrappers, foam, fishing line, and tiny microplastics as small as 1mm. It can also soak up oil and fuel. Each Seabin runs 24 hours a day and filters up to 1.32 million litres per day. This equates to a whopping 481 million litres per year.

There are over 20 Seabins, across 8 locations in Sydney, including 3 here at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

What happens to the rubbish that is captured in the Seabin?

The Seabin scientists empty the Seabins every day. The team weighs the full catch and then they sort the rubbish by hand. Piece-by-piece, the Seabin scientists record what they find and where it came from.

The Seabin scientists turn this data into a Pollution Index. This data is useful for tracking which brands and products regularly end up in the Harbour. You would be amazed by the items found in the Seabin. There are sunglasses, parking tickets, lollipop sticks, toothbrushes, fireworks, and more!

You can visit the Seabin Ocean Health Lab, right here at the museum.

Take a moment to think about the plastic products you use every day. What can you do to prevent plastic from entering the ocean?