Our story
BeachBin was founded by two Vanderbilt University students, George Doster and James Maxwell, when they were awarded the 2022 Nichols Humanitarian Fund. Reading about the toll that COVID has taken on Bali’s economy and its worsening beach-litter crisis, they knew they had the opportunity to provide help. As environmentalists, they developed a plan to improve the economy while cleaning Bali’s beaches.
While Bali has many costal-cleanup organizations, there is not a lot of attention paid toward the prevention of beach litter. Talking to dozens of beach vendors and government officials, George and James realized that their startup should aim to provide preventative measures toward Bali’s litter. Thus, BeachBin was created.
BeachBin is an organization focused on creating an incentive system toward cleaning our beaches through the placement of sponsored trash bins. BeachBin’s primary goal is to reduce beach and ocean plastic and boost community and tourist involvement through donations to local NGOs.
George Doster
George founded BeachBin as a junior at Vanderbilt University, majoring in Math and Economics. Wanting to eventually work for himself, he looked to the startup industry for business experience and learning opportunities. As an Eagle Scout and avid outdoorsman, he sees climate change and environmental destruction as our biggest issue and wants to dedicate his career toward providing solutions. When not working on startups, George can be found surfing the beaches of Seminyak & Canggu, hiking one of Bali’s many beautiful waterfalls, or eating a delicious plate of Nasi Goreng at a local Warung.
James Maxwell
As a traveler and outdoorsman, James has ambitions to seek nature’s beauty around the world. After learning how to surf and making lifelong connections at Seminyak beach, James has dedicated himself to providing service to the area and contributing to a healthier community and cleaner environment. James is currently an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University studying Economics. When not in the classroom or working on BeachBin, James enjoys learning French in his free time.