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Seabin founder to speak at TEDxAuckland
Seabin founder to speak at TEDxAuckland
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 9 August 2018
The Australian co-founder of Seabin — a device designed to rid the world’s marinas of plastic — is coming to New Zealand to speak at TEDxAuckland 2018.
Seabin Project raised almost
$400,000 (NZD) in its Kickstarter campaign after it went
viral.
Co-founder Pete Ceglinski will use his TEDx
talk on October 13th to make a call-to-arms to New Zealand
marinas to take up the fight against plastic pollution.
“By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the
ocean — unless we do something drastic to stop it,”
Ceglinski says.
“New Zealand is a nautical nation,
and I’m really excited to talk in the City of Sails about
a global problem that we should all be tackling at a local
level.
“Seabin is the ultimate tool to tackle ocean
plastic waste at that local level. You install it in a
marina, and it does the work for you: sucking in and
filtering 25,000 litres of water every hour for plastic,
debris, and even chemicals such as oil.
“There are
more than 40 marinas in New Zealand. If each one had just
one Seabin, we could be removing 21,000 kilograms of waste
around this beautiful country every year — that’s the
weight of about 14 cars.”
Seabin Project splits its
business activities into two halves: one for-profit, and the
other not-for-profit.
“We have innovative
technology to capture debris efficiently but, at the end of
the day, Seabins are not the solution. Education, science,
research and community are the real solutions, and so we
have built this into our business model with growing
success.”
This year marks the ninth TEDxAuckland
event. It will be held in the waterfront’s Shed 10, with
talks happening in the upstairs level, and food vendors
taking the downstairs space.
Ceglinski will talk
alongside a high calibre group of speakers from New Zealand
and overseas who all share one thing in common: ideas worth
spreading.
One of these is Rotorua-based founder of
Coffin Clubs, Katie Williams: the 80-year-old who’s making
headlines around the world for her “Fine, Affordable
Underground Furniture.”
Williams founded New
Zealand’s first Coffin Club to encourage volunteers to
make their own coffins — for a very affordable $250. The
idea has since spread with clubs popping up around New
Zealand.
“I’ve worked as a midwife, a carer for
elderly, and finally, as a palliative nurse. I’ve worked
closely alongside people at all stages of the journey from
birth to death, and am passionate about providing empathy
for those confronted with their own mortality.”
19-year-old Kiwi blogger and law student Grace Stratton
will also be speaking about her decision to define her
disability — cerebral palsy — instead of letting it
define her.
Stratton, who has used a wheelchair her
whole life, came to the realisation a few years ago that
what made her different was what gave her power to succeed
— in whatever fields she chose. Stratton believes that all
diversities hold this same strength.
The TEDxAuckland
team says the audience is in for a treat this year with a
lineup of speakers who are all about to hit the big time in
their respective fields.
“The TEDx stage is not
about famous people, it’s about people that are going to
be big names down the track, and all of this year’s
speakers fit in that category,” organiser Elliott Blade
says.
”That’s our job — giving people a
platform to share their ideas and springboard from. People
like Michelle Dickinson, aka Nano Girl, who spoke back in
2012 before going on to be big in the science education
world. She’s a great example of that.”
The full
list of speakers announced today is:
Hēmi Kelly -
Teacher / Author / Translator
Fraser McConnell - Social Entrepreneur / Environmentalist
Richie Hardcore - Activist / Muay Thai Fighter / Public Speaker
Grace Stratton - Outspoken / Able / Driven
Pete Ceglinski - Seabin Project
Katie Williams - Coffin Clubs
Jazz Thornton - Co-founder / Mental Health Advocate / Director
Sarah - Mother / Victim / Cyclist
Dr. Swee Tan - Surgeon / Cancer Research Scientist / Medical Humanitarian
Imche Fourie - Deep tech / Enthusiast / Lifter
ENDS
TEDxAuckland
Ideas Worth Spreading
Our mission at TEDxAuckland is to celebrate new ideas, innovation and diversity with a global audience, aiming to inspire individuals and communities to create a positive impact.
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