A special device will become the first of its kind in Scotland when it is installed at Banff Harbour to help reduce waste at sea.
The ingenious Seabin machine will be dropped into the water in April to begin collecting harmful oils and plastics which can contaminate fish and damage the environment.
The floating device, which can collect up to 50,000 plastic bottles a year, works by moving up and down in the tide sucking up floating rubbish like a vacuum cleaner.
Fresh water is then pumped through the machine trapping the waste in a bag for collection.
It can even collect tiny microplastics just 2mm long.
Its arrival in Banff is being supported by Aberdeenshire Council and Kimo UK, an Aberdeenshire environmental group which in 2005 launched the Fishing For Litter scheme.
To date, it has collected 1,400 tonnes of debris from the sea.
Faron McLellan, Kimo’s coordinator, said: “Seabins are a fantastic, low-cost way to help remove marine litter from the sea.
“The concept fits in well with our Fishing For Litter scheme and once this first Seabin has been installed in Banff we at Kimo UK are looking into using our nearby skip at Macduff to dispose of the litter collected.
“Even at this early stage we have had great interest from other Fishing For Litter harbours and we are currently sourcing new funding to cover the initial purchase and installation costs of additional units.”
Each Seabincosts about £3,000.
In Banff, it will be secured to a pontoon and will collect about 20kg of debris at a time.
The device was created by Australian sufers Pete Ceglinski and Andrew Turton in 2015.
The pair came up with the design after becoming fed up with the amount of waste in the water and now their bins are being put to use worldwide.
Over 10 million tonnes of plastics are believed to enter the sea each year, resulting in damage to sea life and endangering humans who consume fish swallowing microplastics.