Ships Looking for Partners – Are You a Circular Match?
Breaking the global fleet on the beaches of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan causes irreversible damage to workers and the environment. This is no longer acceptable, especially when solutions exist.
New thinking which integrates human values with life cycle management, including the design phase, is charting a course towards ethical circularity. With the parallel rise of new and exciting technologies, including innovative cutting techniques, state-of-the-art waste handling procedures, and clean steel breakthrough systems aimed at achieving a zero-carbon steel-making process, the shift towards a truly sustainable ship recycling sector is possible.
The number of vessels that will reach the end of their operational life in the coming years is expected to triple. This is an opportunity for front-runners to enhance true circularity as the global end-of-life fleet is an important source of valuable scrap steel. But ships and floating offshore assets also contain large amounts of hazardous materials that need to be treated with precaution and in line with international laws, including the UNEP’s Basel Convention. Greenwashing incremental changes on tidal beaches is not the solution. Making sure ship demolition, design, waste management and material recovery generate safe working environments that contribute to preserving our natural capital is. Recycling a ship is a good thing when done without exposing vulnerable communities and sensitive coastal habitats to irreparable damage.
Recognising the need for new solutions for ship recycling, design and material recovery we are therefore hosting our first Ship Recycling Lab: Transformation through Innovation on 20-21 September 2022 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Lab will bring together forward-thinkers from the maritime, recycling and steel sectors to showcase and exchange ideas for best practices in line with ethical circular policy goals. Join us in Rotterdam if you want to set the standard for tomorrow’s safe and environmentally sound management of end-of-life ships!
By Ingvild Jenssen, Founder and Director NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platfrom (Brussels, June 02, 2022)
