CleanaMarina
From ferries to flotsam: our accidental dive into marine waste management.
When you launch a shiny new ferry business, you don’t expect your first big challenge to be… rubbish. Literally. This is the story of how a strangely designed surfboard boat, a beer coaster sketch, and a bit of stubbornness led to Cleanamarina — our slightly mad, very real attempt at cleaning up the waterways
The Idea (and how it came about)
Exciting times! I’d just launched the biggest project of my life — The Little Ferry Company — at the shiny new Elizabeth Quay in Perth. We had two beautiful little solar-electric ferries and an operator’s licence we were pretty chuffed about. But this isn’t about the Little Ferry Company (that tale’s for another day).
One of the first challenges in our sparkling new marine environment.. was the water itself.
Most mornings we’d rock up, ready to set the boats up, only to find a flotilla of seaweed and plastic junk — straws, bottles, bags — loitering right where we worked. Not enough to sink a ship, but enough to ruin the vibe.
It wasn’t a massive problem… more like a quirky little puzzle begging for a clever fix. Mark, one of our skippers, was as curious as me about how to deal with it. Blocking the flow of rubbish into the quay seemed impossible — so we decided to focus on collecting it instead.
Handily, the debris tended to gather in two or three “hot spots” around the quay, which meant half the battle was already won.
And then a fateful discovery of a little surfboard contraption..
Earlier that year, down in Mandurah, I’d spotted what was basically two surfboards lashed together, each with a seat and an outboard motor on the back. My mate Lester and I asked the owner about it. Turns out he had a whole garage full — he’d dreamed of being the Aussie distributor, then given up.
Lester and I briefly toyed with taking on the distributorship… but nothing came of it. Until I suddenly realised: that oddball boat was perfect for collecting rubbish.
From Concept to Creation
Mark and I got to work turning our oddball surfboard boat into an official Refuse Collection Vessel (RCV). While we fiddled with the design, I somehow managed to convince the government department running the quay to give us a service contract — 1 year plus a 3-year option if we proved ourselves.
We mocked up a design and a working schedule, and (to my mild astonishment) they said yes. Boom — Cleanamarina was born!
We found a young metalworker who happily helped us transform the surfboard boat into a legit rubbish collector. As you’d expect, it wasn’t as simple as we first imagined. But we got there.
The Big Launch
I’ll admit, it was a proud little moment when we launched CM1 and cruised her into the quay in our brand new Cleanamarina overalls.
We tied up alongside the Little Ferry Company boats, ready for our first big clean-up in the morning.
The RCV worked by puttering slowly around with two “wing” nets and one on the bow, forming a 4-metre rubbish-catching front. The electric outboard motor hummed away while we scooped up the flotsam.
It worked pretty well… though it was a bit clunky and time-consuming. By the time we’d set up, crawled around collecting rubbish, then emptied the nets, it took longer than we’d hoped.
So we started brainstorming ways to make it all less labour-intensive. We even floated oranges and lemons in the inlet to see where they’d drift — proper scientific stuff.
Eventually we realised we couldn’t stop the rubbish getting in… but we could corral it into designated areas that were easier to clean.
The Invention of the Century
And then came what I still call our crowning achievement: the Floating Refuse Collection Device (FRCD).
Mark and I figured the key was something passive — no humans required — and thought: tides are free energy, so let’s use them.
We sketched a design (on the back of a beer coaster, of course) and got our trusty metalworker to build it.
The FRCD was a pentagon shape made of floating polyurethane pipes, with hinged flaps that only opened inward — meaning rubbish floated in with the tide but couldn’t escape when the tide receded.
I don’t care what anyone says — it was a genius piece of work. We made a few versions in different sizes and even tried marketing it as its own product.
The Beginning of the End
I’d love to wax lyrical about how we conquered the marine-waste world… but the truth is, running two businesses at once — Little Ferry Company and Cleanamarina — was a recipe for compromise.
Eventually, we handed Cleanamarina over to one of our skippers. Let’s just say he didn’t quite share the same passion for rubbish collection… and when the contract came up for renewal, it quietly fizzled out.
We even got invited to Lombok to pitch a solution for their trash-choked waterways. But that’s a whole other story.
So, our foray into marine waste management ended not with a bang but a tired sigh. We started out full of ideas and optimism… and ended up buried under the very workload we’d created for ourselves.
But hey — at least we left the quay cleaner than we found it.
Lessons Learned
Looking back, there were a few good lessons hiding amongst the rubbish:
🗑️ Don’t underestimate how much work a “small side project” can become.
What started as “let’s just clean up a few bits of plastic” turned into an entire business that demanded as much time and energy as the main gig. Lesson: side hustles can quickly become full-time hustles.
🗑️ If you’re solving a problem, make sure you don’t create one for yourself.
Our great solution for keeping the Quay clean turned out to be very labour intensive. Our solution was more costly than the benefit it produced.
🗑️ Don’t fall too in love with your invention.
The FRCD was brilliant (in my humble opinion), but brilliant doesn’t always mean viable, scalable or easy to sell. Lesson: don’t let your ego blind you to the hard realities of commercialisation.
🗑️ You can’t do everything at once — even if you want to.
Running two businesses at the same time split our focus and energy. We learned (the hard way) that sometimes you have to pick a lane — or at least hire help before you burn out.
🗑️ Celebrate the little wins.
Despite everything, I can say, hand on heart, that we left the quay cleaner than what we found it - and we created a few clever solutions along the way.
If you’ve wrestled with your own quirky business challenges (or have a genius rubbish solution of your own), I’m all ears — send it through! [townleykevyn@yahoo.com.au]