With a significant number of ships expected to reach the end of their service life in the coming years, ship recycling presents a strategic opportunity for Europe to meet its goals on circularity and cleaner industrial policies.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform participated in the European Commission’s consultation on an upcoming game-changing legislation: the Circular Economy Act. Our main point is clear: ship recycling presents a significant opportunity to achieve not only enhanced circularity, but also the EU’s strategic autonomy, decarbonisation and competitiveness objectives, while putting an end to the export of harmful waste to third countries.

In particular, we highlight the role ship recycling can play for the decarbonisation of the European steel and construction sectors. The world’s fleet is not only growing, but also aging, which will create more opportunities for steel recycling as it is ships’ default building material. Studies predict an even five-fold increase of ships sent for dismantling in the next decade, which could yield more than 100 million tonnes of high-quality steel. Since steel recycling saves 1.5 tonnes of CO₂ compared to raw steel, this would lead to huge emissions reductions and significantly limit pollution. Also, innovative projects have demonstrated how we can directly re-use ship steel in sectors such as construction.

However, the vast majority of end-of-life ships end up on Bangladeshi, Indian or Pakistani beaches, where the dismantling and recycling practices are far from safe. Only 1% of EU-owned vessels are recycled in Europe.

“Owning one third of the world’s fleet, the European Union has a duty to lead the way and set an ambitious example for sustainable ship recycling. Instead of destroying fragile coastal ecosystems, and putting workers in third countries’ health at risk, EU-owned end-of-life ships should contribute to decarbonisation and circularity efforts,” says Ingvild Jenssen, Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

The Circular Economy Act is a key opportunity to shift the sector towards more sustainable practices. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform therefore calls on the European Commission to include in its proposal:

• A clear prioritisation of eco-design and upcycling practices that promote reuse over recycling;
• An explicit recognition of the EU-owned fleet as a material bank of high-quality steel, and ship-derived steel as a strategic source of secondary raw material;
• Enhanced product information transparency to facilitate the circulation of ship materials across industries, notably through creation of a Ship Material Passport;
• Ambitious lead market measures for end-of-life ships materials including mandatory circular public procurement targets;
• Strong circularity incentives for the maritime sector including a ship recycling return scheme;
• Clear support to circular innovations and research;
• Decisive action to close legal and enforcement loopholes on end-of-life ship exports, in particular by reviewing the EU Ship Recycling Regulation.

We welcome and support any action leading to preventing exports of hazardous waste, and unleashing the circular economy’s potential with its numerous benefits. We therefore call on the European Commission to recognize the strategic role of ship recycling in achieving circularity of the EU economy, and to include the proposed measures to unlock this potential in the Circular Economy Act.
Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform