Seabin’s Smart City Program celebrates 2 years of success in Blackwattle Bay

Since launching Seabin’s Smart City Program in Sydney in 2020, Seabin units have successfully filtered over 19.8 billion litres of water and removed over 87 tonnes of marine debris across Sydney waterways.  

In 2020 Sydney became the first city worldwide to implement around-the-clock collection and monitoring of marine waste through Seabin’s Smart City Program. Today, Seabin units continue to effectively combat water pollution.

The Seabin units, a cross between a trash can and pool-skimmer, have collectively removed an average of 1 plastic item every 6 seconds from the city’s waterways. 

Positioned across Sydney Harbour, there are over 32 Seabin units designed to collect and remove pollutants, including fuel, oil and plastics.

As part of the new Sydney Fish Market’s commitment to cleaning up the bay, 5 of those Seabins were installed around the site in Blackwattle Bay in 2021. 

From 2021 to 2023, the 5 Seabin units have: 

• filtered more than 2.6 billion litres of water  
• collected over 8.4 tonnes of marine debris, including 1.5 million plastic items.

The Seabin catches are processed at Seabin’s Ocean Health Data and Microplastics Lab, where critical data sets are collated to help facilitate positive policy making and behavioural change.

The deployment of Seabin units is part of a broader global initiative to combat plastic pollution and protect marine ecosystems.

Learn more about the Seabin Project.