New Seabin installed to lead the charge in clearing rubbish from the River Nene in Peterborough

An innovative new way of keeping the River Nene clean and helping to prevent the build up of waste on its banks has been installed in Peterborough.

Railworld Wildlife Haven is now home to a new Seabin, which has been donated to the city for free all they way from Ireland.

It has been installed just off a jetty at Railworld and works by way of a pump that sits below the surface of the water.

The pump draws in water from a large radius and brings with it all of the debris, rubbish and potentially microplastics that are in the water.

This will them be taken away to be analysed by sustainability charity RECOUP to both improve the natural environment and to help the charity understand the extent of the issue and devise ways in which it can be prevented in the future.

The Seabin has been transported and installed in the city thanks to funding from Viridor and the Peterborough Environment City Trust.

Steve Morgan, Head of Policy and Infrastructure at RECOUP said: “We are always looking at ways to improve our natural environment and one of our projects is around looking litter and its composition. This will inform interventions and decide how we can stop it getting there in the first place.

“One of the biggest problems around here in land based litter. The sea bin will take litter from the top of the surface of the water, before it sinks, and captures it.

“From that, we can recover litter that would have otherwise ended up at the bottom of the river and we can also take it away to analyse it to devise ways to stop the litter being placed there in the first place.”