Oh, patents! The Seabin™

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Invented by a surfer, the Aussie Seabin™ is an innovative way of removing the tons of trash that floats around marinas, and large city ports and harbors. Trash such as plastic bottles, food containers, pieces of twine, oil, and microplastic particles down to 2 mm. The pump-operated Seabin™ functions 24/7, 365 days/year, using little energy (500 watts and 4 amps), which might be wind-, solar- or wave-powered.

The 860 Seabins™, already deployed in pollution hotspots such as the Sydney Harbour in Australia, and the Port of Los Angeles, have collected more than 3300 tons of sea trash. Altogether, 150 million tons of trash are estimated to pollute the world's oceans. The ultimate goal is to achieve net positive vs. net zero plastic removal. In other words, the goal is to remove more plastic than is actually discarded in the ocean (net positive) vs. removing the same amount of plastic that is discarded (net zero), and keeping the amount of ocean trash constant. Servicing of the bins (i.e., emptying and cleaning them) also includes analysis of the debris collected to provide feedback to urban planners, the port or harbor authorities.

The video below shows the Seabin™ vortex collecting trash from the surface of the water (with no harm to the fish population since the Seabin™ operates on the surface of the water).

The Seabin™ invention was patented. Among a family of 13 patents, the US utility patent, US10954642B2, titled Waste Collection Device, was awarded on March 23, 2021 to Peter Ceglinski, the inventor of the Seabin™. The patent family members include:

• AU2017371713A1 - Waste collection device.
• AU2017371713B2 - Waste collection device.
• DK3551805T3 - Anordning til opsamling af affald.
• EP3551805A1 - Waste collection device.
• EP3551805A4 - Waste collection device.
• EP3551805B1 - Waste collection device.
• ES2874302T3 - Dispositivo de recogida de desechos.
• JP2020500709A - 廃棄物収集装置.
• JP7262777B2 - 廃棄物収集装置.
• PT3551805T - Waste collection device.
• US2020011020A1 - Waste collection device.
• WO2018102869A1 - Waste collection device.

The US10954642B2 patent describes a waste collection device that draws water from the surface of a body of water into a receptacle. The water is captured in a basket within the receptacle. The water is simultaneously pumped out of the receptacle, causing the basket to fall and allow more water in-flow, while retaining debris and waste within the basket. Below, the abstract of the invention together with the Figure 1 of the Seabin™ waste collection device. 

A waste collection device (10) comprising a receptacle (12) having an opening (24) in an upper end and a tubular member (28) mounted for sliding movement within the opening (24). A pump is provided for pumping water outwardly from within the receptacle (12) and a basket is provided within the tubular member (28). The tubular member (28) comprises a cylindrical inner wall (32) and a cylindrical outer wall (33) connected at upper and lower ends thereof to define an annular chamber (36) to provide buoyancy to the tubular member (28). [Abstract US10954642B2]

Reference

Seabin™ (website)

https://seabin.io/home 

Oh, patents! Starbucks® strawless lids

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

An estimated 150 million metric tons of plastic pollute the earth’s oceans with 8 million metric tons added each year (Jordan, 2018). Ocean plastics pollution is the issue that Starbucks® targeted, in particular, with the design of recyclable strawless lids. Even if straws admittedly only represent 1% of the plastic waste dumped into the ocean, straws are too light to be recycled (they fall off conveyor belts), ending up in landfills where they take 500 years to decompose (Ocean Consevancy video). Their size also causes some of the most insidious damage to sea creatures, since they are ingestible, and sometimes only partially, which causes obstructions (Parker, 2018). 

As part of the Starbucks® larger goal to reduce its environmental footprint, the company has partnered with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, which removed 1 million straws from beaches and waterways in 2019. Starbucks® is also part of the Ocean Conservancy’s Fighting for Trash Free Seas Alliance®, targeting corporations to stop the flow of trash as its source. 

The strawless lid is made from polypropylene, which meets the Association of Plastic Recyclers design guidelines for recyclability, and can be recycled in many markets in the U.S. and Canada. The Starbucks® lid is standard on all iced coffee, tea, espresso beverages, and Starbucks Refreshers®. The strawless lid is modeled after the lid customers will recognize from Starbucks® hot drinks, and has approximately nine percent less plastic than the flat lid and straw, historically used for iced beverages. The sipping opening of the lid also comes in various widths, depending on the consistency of the beverage, with wider openings intended for thicker cold foam beverages (Starbucks Staff, 2020). 

The strawless lid was awarded the US design patent USD720616, titled Lid. As a reminder, a design patent covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or how the invention looks. In contrast, a utility patent covers the functional and manufacturing aspects of an invention, or how the invention works (MPEP Chapt. 1502.01).

The Figure 1 patent drawing is included below together with an image of Starbucks® strawless lid, fitted on several Starbucks® cold beverages.

References

Jordan, B. (Sept. 18, 2018). Do plastic straws really make a difference? Stanford Earth Matters Magazine.
https://earth.stanford.edu/news/do-plastic-straws-really-make-difference#gs.w3eo3

Ocean Conservancy 
https://oceanconservancy.org/

Ocean Conservancy - Fighting for Trash Free Seas Alliance®.
https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/plastics-in-the-ocean/trash-free-seas-alliance/

Ocean Conservancy - Here's how plastic straws are wrecking out oceans. YouTube video. 
https://youtu.be/gAm8eNL8XjQ

Parker, L. (Feb. 23, 2018). Straw wars: The Fight to Rid the Oceans of Discarded Plastic. 
 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/plastic-straws-ocean-trash-environment

Staff (Sept. 10, 2020). Strawless lids now available across the US and Canada.
https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/starbucks-strawless-lids-now-available-across-the-u-s-and-canada/

USPTO MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html