Eight million tonnes — that is the oft-quoted figure for the amount of plastic rubbish that enters the world's oceans each year.

Key points:

• The Seabin is a "rubbish bin in the water" removing plastic waste and other rubbish
• The first 60 are being installed in Australia in the coming weeks
• About 600 are in operation overseas removing about 1.7 tonnes of marine litter a day

But now an Australian invention known as a Seabin is doing something about it.

The first Seabins were installed in the south of France and there are now hundreds in overseas marinas and rivers — including some very illustrious locations.

"We've been installing them in quite a lot of places," said chief executive and co-founder of the Seabin Project Pete Ceglinski.

"The majority of our clients are marinas, ports and yacht clubs.

"We've also been installing them in rivers, like the River Seine in Paris, in Dubai we've installed them on the backs of super yachts and also freshwater lakes and rivers, so quite a lot of different places."

Until recently, he was based in Europe working on what he described as the "rubbish bin in the water".

What is a Seabin?

• Described as a rubbish bin for the ocean, they're most often installed in marinas
• Installation location is based on where winds and currents naturally push rubbish
• A submersible pump at the bottom of the unit draws in water
• Water is passed through a filter which catches rubbish as small as two millimetres, and oil and fuel
• Filtered water is pushed out the bottom

Now Mr Ceglinski is planning to roll it out across the country after moving back to Byron Bay to start a family.

"That kind of fast-tracked the Australian and Pacific market entry but it was the perfect timing," Mr Ceglinski said.

"We now have 60 units, I think we have about 20 left so there's 40 going in in the next month and a half; it's very early stages."