Howth Seabin — Collecting Marine Litter in Dublin
Quick Fact
A single Seabin device can collect up to 1.5 kg of floating debris per day, including microplastics as small as 2mm.
Filmed during Rowan Byrne's work with the Howth Seabin Initiative, Howth Harbour, Dublin.
About This Species
The Seabin Project is an innovative marine litter collection system developed in Australia. Seabins are floating devices installed in marinas and harbours that use a water pump to draw surface water — and the litter floating in it — into a collection bag. Rowan Byrne installed and monitored a Seabin at Howth Harbour, Dublin, as part of a broader effort to understand and reduce marine litter in Irish coastal waters. The project generated significant media coverage and public interest in marine pollution.
Why It Matters
Harbour and marina litter is a significant source of marine plastic pollution. Practical collection solutions like the Seabin, combined with public education and policy change, are essential components of a comprehensive response to marine plastic pollution.
Transcript
In 2019, I helped install a Seabin in Howth Harbour in Dublin. And what it collected in the first few weeks genuinely shocked me. A Seabin is essentially a floating rubbish bin for the ocean. It sits at the water's surface, draws water in through a pump, and catches floating litter in a mesh bag — plastic bottles, cigarette butts, microplastics, even microfibers from clothing. Howth is a busy fishing and leisure harbour. The amount of litter entering the water from boats, the harbour walls, and storm drains is significant. Within weeks, we were pulling out kilograms of debris every few days. But here's the thing — a Seabin is not a solution. It's a sticking plaster. It catches litter after it's already entered the marine environment. The real solution is stopping it getting there in the first place. What the Seabin does brilliantly is make the problem visible. People walk past, see what's been collected, and it changes how they think about what they throw away. We need that kind of visible, tangible connection between human behaviour and marine pollution. Because when people can see the impact, they start to care. And when people care, things change.