The Prosper Coffs Harbour Environment Trust is taking a stand against ocean plastics. With the support of the local community we have raised enough funds money to bring the Seabin to the Coffs Marina. Our goal is to give Coffs Harbour the opportunity to reduce its plastic pollution impact on our protected habitats of the estuary and the wider ocean environment.

The Seabin is a cleaning device that operates 24/7 and can collect up to 1.5kgs of floating debris per day. This includes large plastic bags, bottles, plastic straws, coffee cups, food wrappers, surface oils and micros plastics down to 2mm small. The Seabin has been in operation at the Coffs Harbour Marina since May 2020. It is emptied on a regular basis, with the total debris recorded by Bishop Druitt College students and sent through to the Seabin Project national database.

In December 2021 we completed a report, to review the impact of the Seabin on the Coffs Marina over the course of a year. We were blown away by the results!

What we found out:

65.4kg of marine debris analysed from 34 data collections

3.1kg on average of debris is captured per day

41.1% of the debris was microfibres and microplastics

What does this mean for the Marina?

We are addressing the issue of plastic pollution and cleaning up the marina! The main source of pollution is microplastics and microfibres, which is smaller plastic pieces between 2- 5mm long. These plastics find their way into the stomach of marine mammals, like birds, fish and even plankton. The Seabin is not only cleaning up our marina, but is protecting our marine life!