Home appliance giant the Whirlpool Corporation has launched its first external project to support the reduction of marine plastic waste around the coast of Britain.

In partnership with LifeGate PlasticLess, it has installed a Seabin at Portishead Quays Marina in north Somerset. The aim is to roll-out Seabins around the coast.

The Seabin at Portishead Quays Marina is designed to collection ans store a variety of plastic waste from bottles to microfibres, as small as 0.3mm.

Sponsored Video

Lauren Goodbrand of Kitchens International on winning the Kbsa Concept Designer Award 2024

It can catch around 1.5kg of waste per day, which equates to over 500kg per year.

It means the Seabin can collect around 90,000 pastic bags and 16.500 one litre, plastic bottles or 33,000 0.5 litre bottles, annually.

The waste is collected in a bag, which stores up to 20kg of waste, with the marina water sucked through the Seabin and pumped back into the sea.

UK public affairs director for Whirlpool Corporation Ian Moverley explained: “This is our first LifeGate PlasticLess Seabin in the UK.

“We chose north Somerset as our first location, as that is close to our industrial site at Yate, near Bristol, which has over one hundred years of manufacturing history and we are committed to serving communities where our colleagues work and live.”

At the Yate facility, Whirlpool Corporation have been zero waste to landfill since 2015 and for over nine years, with vending machines featuring reusable mugs.

In addition, Whirlpool Corporation’s headquarters has committed to the eradication of single use plastics, providing staff with metal water bottles.

According to the company, it is calculated to save 160,000 single use cups going to landfill, annually.

In addition, compostable cups for hot drinks have been installed at the company’s canteen which Whirlpool reports will save over 200,000 cups going to landfill each year.

Ian Moverley added: “We are committed to support and minimise our environmental footprint, protecting the Earth for future generations.

“We all know that if we do nothing then our oceans will have more plastic in them than fish by 2050.”

Whirlpool Corporation has also looked to tackle food waste, with its Hotpoint brand opening a a pop-up cafe with meals made from surplus food to raise consumer awareness.