There are concerns over the effectiveness of a new law which
aims to ensure that EU registered ships are dismantled in EU approved ship
recycling facilities that must fulfil specific requirements and be certified
and regularly inspected,
In a statement the EU Parliament explained that during the
negotiations it strengthened the proposed requirements, inter alia by obliging
ship recycling businesses to operate in built structures, which must be
'designed, constructed and be operated in a safe and environmentally sound
manner'.
The facilities must also hold in hazardous materials
throughout the recycling process and handle them and their waste only on
impermeable floors with effective drainage. Waste quantities will have to be
documented, and their treatment authorised only in waste treatment or recycling
facilities
Under the new legislation, non-EU ships, as well as EU ones,
will be covered insofar as they will have to carry an inventory of hazardous
materials when calling at EU ports. Enforcement measures, including penalties,
are to be set by member states.
The regulation will apply to ships at the earliest 2 years
and at the latest 5 years after its entry into force, the eventual date
depending upon when the recycling capacity of facilities on the EU list exceeds
a threshold of 2.5 million light displacement tonnes.
South Asia
MEP Carl Schlyter, who steered the legislation through
Parliament, was keen to stress that the legislation is not an attack against
India, Bangladesh or Pakistan - the countries that currently practice beaching
- but against the dangerous and highly polluting practice of beaching itself.
“This regulation incentivises these countries to make the
necessary investments in proper ship recycling facilities - above all for the
sake of safe and environmentally-sound jobs in their countries,” he explained.
A word of warning
In its statement the EU Parliament said that the EU
Commission will report on the feasibility of a financial instrument to
facilitate safe and sound ship recycling and, if appropriate, present a
legislative proposal within 3 years of the entry into force of the regulation.
However, Shipbreaking Platform - an NGO which has campaigned
to end the environmentally damaging and dangerous practice of recycling of
ships on beaches warned that the regulation will fail to change the current
state of play if no financial incentive is rapidly introduced to ensure
compliance with the new rules.
“Without a financial incentive,
circumvention of European law covering end-of-life vessels will persist and
European ship owners will be allowed to continue to seek significant financial
profits by externalising environmental and human health costs to the
shipbreaking beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, and to the exploited
workforce there,” commented Patrizia Heidegger, executive director of
Shipbreaking Platform.
Source: waste management.
By Ben Messenger. 23 October 2013
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