#BinForGreenSeas
Photos: Mark Hakansson
BinForGreenSeas is launched on 05/06/2019 World Environment Day
The BinForGreenSeas was unveiled on Blackpool promenade by Cllr Fred Jackson, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Climate Change for Blackpool Council and Fazilette Khan, Founder trustee of GreenSeas Trust.
The bin is prominently sited between the RNLI building and the iconic pier.
Not many people realise that a major attributor of plastics at sea is careless littering. In fact, in the UK 7.7 billion plastic water bottles are used annually Each day, 700,000 are littered.
At GreenSeas Trust we don’t just talk about the marine litter problem – we take action too!
Our conspicuous, nautically themed bin is functional and educational. The tagline, “Throw Marine Life a Lifeline,” is there to prick people’s conscience. We want to raise awareness of the impact of litter on our oceans and the need to dispose of it responsibly when visiting the beach. Disposing of single-use plastics in any bin with help save marine life.
The litter collected in the BinForGreenSeas will be recycled in accordance with the local authority practices to further reduce its impact on the environment.
GreenSeas Trust hopes that other councils with take this lead and roll out the BinForGreenSeas in their up and down the country.
If you are a council or company interested in having a BinForGreenSeas, why not get in touch. Email us: info@greenseas.org
Join us and be part of the journey!
Getting to this point has been long and hard
Scroll down to see our journey
We are now at the manufacturing stage!
Recycled PET plastics is used in each BinForGreenSeas
The BinForGrenSeas is being made with fibreglass material, which makes it strong and durable and will last many, many years. The whole process of manufacture is very labour intensive. In the first instance, a pattern or plug is made from which a mould can be taken. Layers of fibreglass and resin are then applied onto the surface to make the final finished product.
The resin being used to make the BinForGreenSeas has recycled PET plastics as one of its key components. In fact, it is around 450 drinks bottles worth of plastics!
This means, not only is our bin changing human behaviour with its bold as brass shape and size and its emotive message about saving marine life but also, diverts a whole lot of plastic from being incinerated or put in landfill. Now that is what we call a positive result!
GreenSeas Trust partners with the IET and Greenpeace on eco-competition
Watch the video: #IETSaveOurSeas
Blackpool Council onboard for the BinForGreenSeas
We are thrilled to be partnering with Blackpool Council. Blackpool has been the UK’s most popular seaside destination for more than a century. Loved and visited by millions, it boasts beautiful sandy beaches and fabulous attractions.
The final design of our BinForGreenSeas !
The BinForGreenSeas is designed by Emily Hodgkinson and George Davis, product design students from the University of East London.
“Having grown up in Sussex and spending my childhood visiting beaches all along the south coast, this particular project was personal for me from day one. I felt compelled to make this project a success by creating a memorable design which would open people’s eyes to the issue of plastic waste. I want to make sure our oceans and beaches are a clean and natural environment, so that children for generations to come, can create the childhood memories I was lucky enough to have. I’m just thankful that being a product design student has put me in the position where I could actually make a difference.” Emily Hodgkinson, Product Design Student – University of East London.
“As a product design student, working alongside GreenSeas Trust in the designing of a bin has broadened my outlook on the design world and how product designers shape the world, positively and negatively. Taking part in the project has shown me what a huge impact plastic waste can have on the natural environment but it has also shown me how, if we work together, we can help stop this issue. The GreenSeas Trust beach clean at Littlehampton and the BinforGreenSeas project will help influence my future designs to be more environmentally aware.” George Davis, Product Design Student – University of East London.
Read more about what inspired them in our December 2018 blog
GreenSeas Trust enlists the help of design universities
It is not unusual to go to a beach and find, despite a lot of rubbish bins being there, people don’t use them.
Result? Plastics are killing, strangling or smothering sea life.
Why? A lack of awareness. People don’t realise that apart from just the aesthetics, the consequences of plastics in our oceans effects humans too – individually and collectively.
Solution? BinForGreenseas Project. The trust is working with design students from two of UK’s top universities to change the; ‘Can’t be bothered’ attitude to one of responsible waste disposal.
Strathclyde University – DMEM
The final year students showcased their bin design at DMEM Industrial Projects Presentation Day in Glasgow. The worthy young designers (left to right, Scott, Astrid, Cody and James) were given certificates by trustee, Fazilette (centre) to acknowledge their hard work and interesting design ideas to the BinForGreenSeas project.
The proposed GreenSeas bin presented by Team 27 on Industrial Projects Presentation Day
University of East London
Year 1 student competition
The BinForGreenSeas project, supported by Arun District Council and its waste contractor Biffa, saw nine students create design concepts as part of their first year course work. Competition winner, Laura Carusato was awarded a trophy by Fazilette Khan, founding trustee of the GreenSeas Trust.
Year 1 product design students, judges and senior lecturers from UEL
Judges with the winner
Left to right : Darren Wingrove, project manager at Logoplaste Innovation Lab, Biffa business development manager Karen Sherwood, Laura Monica Carusato , Fazilette Khan, Edina Seiben, GreenSeas Trust project coordinator.
Photos: Daniel Blackman/UEL
UEL students on a fact finding mission
Students from the University of East London surveyed the shoreline to determine elements that need to be incorporated into the design of ‘behaviour-changing’ waste bins. The marine debris found was analysed and quantified. Not surprisingly, plastics objects made up the majority of the litter found.
The windy conditions at Littlehampton, did not deter the students, whose enthusiasm had many locals enquiring about the project and wanting to know how they could lend their support to the project.
Strathclyde University; Dept of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM)
Our team from University of Strathclyde University have taken up the challenge to come up with a bin design that will ‘stick out like a sore thumb.’
Visualising a concept to prick people’s conscious is not an easy thing. The students have been resorting to a number of resourceful ways to whittle their ideas down to take it to the next stage.
Awareness through education
At Langley Park Boys’ School in Bromley, for Greenseas Trust promoted the issues of marine garbage and its effects on the marine ecosystem. The nautically themed music played by the orchestra of students and professionals of Everyone Matters, accompanied the slide show. Fazilette Khan, later talked about how making a few conscious changes in recycling habits can benefit the planet.
Working with the support of Mairie de Cannes, France
Butt Nothing!
Cigarette butts filters are made of cellulose acetate fibres (a plastic) which does not degrade. These fibres, each approximately 20 μm in diameter are packed tightly together. These filters contain toxins such as, carcinogenic chemicals, pesticides, and nicotine which leach into the marine environment and poison microbes, insects and fish or suffocate marine wildlife. Cigarette butts are the number one item found in coastal clean-ups. It is estimated there are over 4 trillion cigarette butts in the oceans – and counting.
GreenSeas Trust wants to eradicate thoughtless disposal of cigarette butts on beaches and in drains through a major awareness campaign. We want smokers to behave responsibly and put their butts in designated bins or pocket ashtrays.
With the support of Mairie de Cannes, GreenSeas Trust volunteers gave away free pocket ashtrays and leaflets to highlight the effects of cigarette butts in the sea. Working as a group, picking up litter and cigarette ends, caught the attention of the beach-goers. Many of whom were surprised to learn cigarette filters are made of plastics.
The next generation looking on, keenly wanted to participate in the activities.Deposit Refund Scheme
GreenSeas Trust has been lobbying for UK to adopt the deposit refund systems for plastic beverage containers.
Studies show only 57% of plastic bottles are recycled in the UK. This means that everyday 15m plastic bottles are not recycled!
Reverse vending machines (RVM’s) give back money to the consumer when plastic beverage bottles are 
returned.
Even if some consumers are not bothered about the deposit they pay, others will profit by picking them up. It adds a value to plastic litter!
Returned plastic bottles can then be recycled to make new ones and since they are removed at source, it stop’s them from ending up as marine litter. It can create new green jobs too!
Countries which have adopted the Deposit Refund Scheme on average, have seen and improved recycling rate of > 80%.
Cruise Ships
Awareness campaign for cruise ship crews
GreenSeas Trust embarked upon a campaign for cruise ship crews to respect the pristine environments the ships sail into. From vessel to vessel, crew numbers vary, often coming from a diverse range of backgrounds. It was imperative to overcome the, “It’s not my country,” way of thought and instil a kindred sense of community for the people and environments the ships visit.
Using a series of posters, lectures and visual aids, GreenSeas Trust was able to highlight the problems of marine debris and how it effects each and every one of us. Since most crew members often come from coastal regions themselves and have diets that include fish, the trust focused their attention to the effects of the life-cycle of plastics and other rubbish on marine animals and the toxins they release as they breakdown. This led to a successful outcome with beaches and beauty spots being left intact and untouched by thrash.
Clean, Green and Serene
GreenSeas Trust pioneered at a grassroots level the “Litter Kills Marine Life” program on the island of Tobago.
Like many of the islands in the Caribbean, Tobago’s economic survival is based on tourism. Buccoo Reef, once a place of outstanding natural beauty, rich in coral and marine life, has been bleached due by marine pollution and climate change.
To combat the problem of marine debris, GreenSeas Trust used a three pronged approach.
The Bins on the Beaches project, saw GreenSeas Trust placed garbage bins along the island’s popular beaches of Swallows, Grafton, Turtle, Buccoo, Grange Bay, and Lowlands BeachPreviously, Tobago had not benefitted from having any bins, instead, it relied on the sporadic services of cleaning gangs. Negotiating with the government, GreenSeas Trust received a pledge by the Department of Public Health to empty the bins on a regular and scheduled basis.
Environmental teaching
In a joint initiative with the Ministry of Education, GreenSeas Trust implemented Litter Awareness Program in schools and other educational institutes, highlighting the harm to marine life from chemical leeching, plastic ingestion the smothering of coral polyps.
“You can never know what the impact of environmental teaching to children of all ages might have in the long term, “said Fazilette Khan, a trustee of the organisation, “When one appreciates the island’s livelihood depends in one way or another on the environment, whether it is from fishing, agriculture or tourism, it goes a long way in shining a beam on priorities. No one these days is unaware of the fact that toxic chemicals including those from batteries, car tyres, plastics and petroleum products can leach into the soil and the water and cause severe damage to the ecosystem, but unless it is given constant focus, it tends to get left on the back burner.”
Finally, GreenSeas Trust advocated Recycling.
The Trust approached the business community highlighting the potential cost savings achievable. As a result, Tobago is currently recycling aluminium and glass with other recyclable streams being explored in the future.
GreenSeas Trust’s presence and campaigns has brought forth a commitment by the Tobago House Assembly to uphold the island’s new motto of; Clean, Green and Serene.