Ulsan Beach Gets First Mobile Bin for Collecting Jellyfish and Seaweed

A unit that collects jellyfish and seaweed on the spot at the beach and routes the material toward reuse has been installed on an Ulsan beach for the first time.

Guru ENT (구루이엔티), an environmental technology company, and Blue Surfers Alliance (블루서퍼스 얼라이언스), a marine conservation group, said on August 7 that they had finished installing SEACLE (씨클), a movable collection bin for marine organic matter, near Insan Beach in Ulsan's Dong-gu district.

SEACLE is a portable device that allows members of the public and site staff to gather jellyfish and seaweed washed up on the beach and deposit them directly. Unlike a fixed installation, it can be moved to wherever the material is appearing, which the developers say suits marine organic matter that shows up in different areas depending on the season and sea conditions.

The stage after collection was designed alongside it. Marine organic matter has a high water content, so dewatering and drying are necessary before it can be reused, and SEACLE is fitted with a solar-powered ventilation unit to assist that process. The arrangement is intended to keep the bin running continuously on beaches where a separate power supply is difficult to arrange.

For odour, the main difficulty with equipment installed on beaches, the partners applied Pelotte (펠로떼), a technology developed in-house by Guru ENT. It is a deodorising material made from biochar, shells and natural minerals, designed to cut odour without relying on chemical agents.

The two organisations plan to build up operating data from the site, starting with this installation. They intend to measure collection volumes, seasonal patterns of occurrence, drying efficiency and odour reduction performance under real operating conditions, and to develop step by step a model that treats jellyfish and seaweed as material for marine environmental research and reuse rather than simply as waste.