'Seabin' device at Pier 39 works to pull plastics, debris out of the Bay

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A sophisticated device called a Seabin was dropped into the bay at Pier 39 for 12 hours and collected trash. Thursday morning, the CEO of Seabin along with the harbormaster, pulled the bin out and were impressed with what they found.

"If I had to give Pier 39 a grade out of ten, I'd give them a 9.3, which is pretty high. I can't give out a ten because you can always be improving on things but yeah there's not a lot of debris in the water for such a busy city," said Seabin CEO Pete Ceglinski.

The basket contained cigarette butts, a plastic water bottle, a piece of latex that looks like a balloon and some small chips of plastic possibly from cups and utensils.

He said this haul is a sign of an environmentally aware city.

"We have some locations getting 100 pounds of trash a day. It depends on the city, the people in the city, if they are refusing single use plastics, if they are smoking or not," Ceglinski said.

The Seabin looks like a plain plastic bucket, but it is a sophisticated piece of equipment that pulls the trash out at the surface without disrupting the marine life.

He will leave the Seabin here for a year in exchange for data about what is collected here.

To handle that, enter sixth grader Sydney White.

"I feel very excited because I want to help the environment and I feel like it is good to have a Seabin because sometimes things just get blown everywhere," she said.

Sydney has a new journal with a black leather cover where she plans to write down everything that comes out of the bay. She hopes to educate people on being environmentally aware.

"It should be important to everyone and to be aware of what they are using at home," she said.

Ceglinski will leave this bin here for free but he does sell them. The harbormaster at Pier 39 says they are already very interested in buying several. They want to use them to clean up and to educate.