Seabin started off as a cleanup technology in 2016, and it quickly evolved into much more than that. In 2020, Seabin executed a major pivot and stopped selling Seabin’s, and instead sold impact data to corporate clients that wanted to add sustainability to their business models or add cleanup to their end of year or ESG reporting 😉
So why would a corporate or a business want to support cleaning up our oceans though? Well, the consumer market is changing rapidly, with a better-informed and possibly more responsible consumer looking to add purpose to their purchase.
But what does that mean? In short it means that if you want an edge over your business competition, it pays to support the planting of trees, protecting koalas or supporting the cleanup of our oceans.
Because if you had the choice between two similar products with similar price points, but one helped save the oceans and the other only create profit for the company, most people these days would choose the product that saves the oceans.
Seabin are now operational in Sydney, Australia, and LA, USA.
Contact us to see how you can add impact and purpose to your business today.
These five points are driving the ongoing success of Seabin
1. Futurism, Technology and Iteration:
We look ahead, behind, left, right, up and down to study and predict future developments and trends in technology and society. We then use these insights and developments to shape a better business and impact scaling model to create a better future for the next generations.
As a disruptive startup creating a new market, we are nimble, fail fast, sprint and iterate as needed. If something didn’t work, we have the ability to pivot overnight.
We understand our strengths and weaknesses and then fill the gaps where needed.
2. Business, Community and Empathetic Leadership:
Prioritization is given to understanding and responding to all of our stakeholders’ needs and feelings, creating positive relationships and fostering a sense of understanding and connection. It leads to positive outcomes for Seabin, our employees, customers, shareholders, and the community.
Fair and well-managed flexibility in the workplace leads to happiness and a positive work culture, because our greatest asset is our team.
Happiness leads to productivity, financial growth, employee retention, brand building, and brand loyalty.
So if you don’t care about happy workers, care about the economics… it’s a win-win for everyone either way.
3. Profit, Scaling and Partnerships:
People – Planet – Profit.
Our for-profit model drives economic growth, social and environmental impact. Using our world-first data and scaling model creates, measures, educates, reports on and amplifies the impact of our initiatives. We dream big, crunch the numbers, calculate the risk, profit and impact, and then either deploy, don’t deploy or save it for later.
Our partnerships model creates social licensing, which decision-makers cannot ignore and helps change the business world by adding purpose to an entity that traditionally may not have had the means to do so previously.
Our partnerships model also creates the “proof-of-concept” critical in obtaining the financial support of local, state and federal governments.
4. Communication, Brand and Identity:
The best idea in the world is worthless if nobody knows about it. So we tell an impressive visual story and back it up with a strong product, model and values.
Our brand and identity communicates our values and mission to our stakeholders, including customers, employees, and investors, to build trust and credibility, which is critical for organizations making a positive impact in the world.
It also attracts and retains talent, as it helps our employees understand what Seabin stands for and how they contribute to the mission.
5. Education, Awareness and Environmental Sustainability:
Protecting the natural world by taking immediate action, educating and promoting better and more sustainable practices to ensure a prosperous economy and a healthy planet that sustains us and future generations.
Notes:
We didn’t set out with a game plan other than putting a trash can in the water; we didn’t know the above points until we sat down and reviewed what we do and why we do it (just now).
The above five points result from a combination of naivety, intelligence (academic and or natural), positivity, a can-do attitude, sprinting, iterating (whilst sprinting), eternal optimism, working as a team and vulnerability (yet being firm, fair, direct and polite).
Most of all, these five points are the outcome of simply trying to be good humans and doing good for the planet whilst trying to build and financially support a happy, sustainable and non-excessive life for ourselves and our families.
Our CEO and Co-Founder, Pete is 44 with two little boys, is still renting and driving a secondhand car. Seabin cannot pay competitive salaries right now, and this is because everything we have is put back into the company. It’s not sustainable or long-term, but that’s what we need to do right now as we scale.
We blatantly copied (and still copy) what Patagonia does and use them for ongoing inspiration. Go read the book “Let my people go surfing” – it’s not just about surfing 😉
In 2020, Seabin stopped selling hardware and pivoted to a new business model which focused on annual recurring revenue and exponential scaling.
Seabin has successfully raised more than $4 million over the last two years, with a 2021 valuation of $21 million.
Having an idea, a dream or talking about something is great, but taking that first step is critical. If it’s worth it, but you can’t take the first step – best find someone who can.
Our sponsorships model delivers impact for businesses that are looking to support transparent and credible initiatives. The model also enables Seabin to clean up cities whilst we deal with the glacial speed of the bureaucracy involved to obtain the much-needed government financial support currently missing.
Our sponsor packages include employee days down on the dock and now in our brand-new Microplastics research laboratory at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Yamaha Outboards Australia has proudly come on board as a major sponsor for the Sydney campaign.
Click here to register interest for sponsorship opportunities (contact us page)
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Seabin has become data-led after realising a critical and global Microplastics data gap. Whilst our cleanup efforts have reached over 100 tons in 2 years, we understand that we will never win on volume alone.
Data and prevention can heal the planet with new policies and legislation for plastic pollution.
Seabin has the most accurate and reliable Microplastic data on the planet, and to further ensure a high standard of data, Seabin group have built the world’s first Microplastic and Ocean Health Research Lab based at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, with a 3-year residency.
The Microplastics lab is staffed from Monday to Friday by two full-time marine scientists. Daily lab tours can be booked at the ANMM front desk.
Centre. Mahi Paquette (Seabin Foundation CEO & Director) cuts the ribbon to celebrate the launch of the Microplastics lab at the Australian National Maritime Museum in October 2022.
Resident Marine Scientists Karli and Tahlia staff the Microplastics research lab Monday to Friday.
Microplastics and other forms of plastic pollution are processed daily, with the Sydney Enviro techs dropping off data samples. Up to 15 comprehensive data sets are catalogued each week. An industrial freezer and commercial dehydrator combined with innovative design keeps any smells at bay 😉
Enviro Techs drop off data samples from the 32 Seabin units across the Sydney route that spans 20 km of densely populated shoreline.
Click here to view the microplastics research lab video.
Seabin launched LA as our second city in the 100 Smarter Cities by 2050 campaign after celebrating the success of Sydney and coinciding with Plastic Free July.
Route 1 comprises of 11 Seabin units operating in Marina Del Rey, California. Seabin partnered with the Patagonia Santa Monica store and then electric vehicle superstars, Rivian at their community centre in Venice. Both events were a huge success, with the local community and businesses expressing interest in helping clean up LA.
Our Seabin LA launch at the Patagonia store in Santa Monica saw over 120 local community members attend, with local businesses such as Tindle Foods, JuneShine, and Athletic Brewing supporting the night.
11 Seabin units are strategically placed around Marina del Rey, California. Each unit has a service and data schedule.
A bird’s eye view of just how large Marina del Rey is.
Servicing the 11 units in Marina del Rey is currently by van; discussions are underway to secure a service boat to optimise the on-water route and daily operations.
The projected amount of microplastics, plastic fibres and more to be collected each year in Sydney harbour was predicted at 28 tons; this number has nearly doubled, with over 100 tons captured from June 2020 to November 2022.
Below are some of the insights and examples of how the data can be used to monitor taxpayer-funded initiates like plastic bag and single-use bans.
A huge milestone for Seabin and the Sydney community.
3000 football fields covered in plastic shopping bags.
5,600 Olympic swimming pools filtered for Microplastics.
301 Single-use plastic items are captured every day in Sydney Harbour.
With the plastic bag ban only coming into effect in June 2022, we hope to see a reduction over time.
Covid brought a new litter category in the form of PPE.
1,101 soft plastics are captured in Sydney Harbour each day. Now with RedCycle ceasing recycling operations, Seabin will be monitoring Sydney Harbour to see if there is an increase or not in volume.
