When I joined BMC, I was excited to learn about the partnership we have with Seabin™ because the ocean has been a consistent part of my life since I was very young. From growing up in Lisbon, Portugal, to moving around the globe, and currently residing in Boston, MA, I have lived within a few miles of the beach for most of my life. I love the water and its diverse ecosystem of plants, animals, and sea life that never cease to fill me with awe.
Sadly, I’ve also observed the significant changes to the many shorelines and waterways that I had previously enjoyed because of the encroaching volumes of trash and other pollutants reducing the water quality and impacting the beauty of those areas. As someone who has participated in ocean clean ups since childhood, including efforts to preserve the beach in Lisbon where I have a home, I’m thrilled to celebrate World Oceans Day by sharing how BMC’s partnership with Seabin is having a positive impact on ocean health.
Year one impact
As part of our Smart City Unit Sponsorship of two Seabins in Sydney Harbor, Australia, from March 2022 through February 2023, our sponsored Seabin units have generated the following impact statistics:
- 491 million liters of water filtered
- 1,685 kgs² estimated total marine litter captured
- 81,124 estimated number of plastic items captured (all plastic items including microplastics)
- 44,362 estimated number of microplastics captured (only microplastics)
These results concretely demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and our adherence to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for building a better and more sustainable future. You can read more about all our activities to give back in our annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report.
From the start, BMC—especially our Professional Services group—wanted to find a tangible way to improve the health of our oceans and waterways. Our partnership with Seabin gives us the opportunity to directly help the environment through the organization’s technology, its Smart City programs, and the data reporting that displays the quantifiable evidence that we’re making a difference. Even further, the data shows that the Smart City program in Sydney has a Seabin capturing one plastic item per minute.
While it’s disappointing that the volume is so high, during the two years that the program has been active, every Seabin combined has filtered 13.57 billion liters of water, the equivalent of 5,429 Olympic swimming pools. All of the Seabins in the area have captured 100 tons of marine litter and an estimated 4,391,542 of plastic items. It’s very inspiring to be part of an impact that significant.
For our second year as a unit sponsor, we decided to broaden our reach.
Going global
As we received our quarterly impact reports and participated in last year’s World Oceans Day events with Seabin in Australia, we wanted to find a way to have more of a global impact. Through a presentation that Seabin did in July 2022 for our One Earth employee resource group (ERG), we learned that its next Smart City would debut in Los Angeles, CA, in October 2022. We met as a Customer Success leadership team last fall and decided we’d like to go global by expanding our partnership to Los Angeles to align to our reach as a company that serves 86 percent of the Forbes Global 50.
It gives me great pleasure to share that our Seabin went in the water in Los Angeles this March and is already contributing to the new Smart City program location. It has yielded an incredible capture rate in its first few months—filtering 1.009 billion liters and capturing 2.185 tons of marine litter, which includes an estimated 3,396,734 plastic items. Leveraging its own technology and data capture measurements, Seabin has determined that every four seconds, a Seabin in Marina Del Rey collects one plastic item. The data is compelling, and the hope is that it will lead to more mindful human practices around protecting oceans and waterways, from making smarter decisions on the disposal of purchased items to reconsidering purchases based on their impact on the environment.
Seabin CEO and co-founder Pete Ceglinski was recently interviewed on the various aspects of improving ocean health and said that by listening, you can do your part in learning about the various aspects of improving marine environments. He also discussed how Seabin is taking a data-driven approach to helping transform the world’s relationship with consumer goods and preserving the world around us.
This World Oceans Day
This World Oceans Day—June 8, I will be taking time to pay back the water environments that bring so much joy and peace to my life. BMC will be participating in Seabin’s outreach activities, both in-person and leveraging our social platforms and employees, to share the message that we must care for our oceans and waterways not only today, but always. Additionally, our BMC Cares employee volunteer program encourages our global workforce to get involved in cleaning up not just around water, but in all areas, because litter on land often ends up in the water if it is not disposed of properly.
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