Two Australian surfers, Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski, have designed the Seabin, an ocean cleaning device which catches pollutants in the water. It consists of a net (catch bag) inside a kind of container. It uses energy to pulls water inside the bin, filtering and catching all the pollutants in the net and letting the water flow out of the bin through the bottom. This Seabin can be fixed to a dock or a wall, which makes it likely to be installed in the waters of marinas, private pontoons, inland waterways, residential lakes, harbours, water ways, ports and yacht clubs.
One thing that is worrying the inventors of this new device is that it is not big enough to catch all the ocean pollution, but at least it is the beginning of a bigger ocean’s cleaning movement. Moreover, because of the fact that wind and water currents are constantly moving the floating debris around, the Seabin has always something to catch from where it is located.
As I have been reiterating in my blog, new ideas and innovative start-ups are the hope for a better future. The Seabin is one more example of this belief. I share with Seabin’s founders their preoccupation of this device not creating a big impact enough to finish with ocean pollution. However, it is the very first step for creating shared value. Once the product (standard bins) is reconceived, it is important to engage others to contribute to the new product’s success, meaning redefining productivity in the value chain.
I strongly think Andrew and Pete had a great idea. To create a real big impact, they have to make a step further though. They have to convince the society to join their project, having others manufacturing this Seabin and creating a business ecosystem around it. Some things have to be improved, such as the amount of energy the Seabin needs to work.
Aside from that, I would like to highlight again the importance of these new ideas and products coming out, encouraging and enhancing new business markets, behaviours and ways of acting.
