Following India’s ban on single use plastic from onboard vessels, the Liberian Maritime Authority reminds all Liberia-flagged vessels sailing to India of what to keep in mind, from which single use plastics are acceptable, to the importance of implementing a Ship Execution Plan (SEP).
To remind, India firstly announced the ban in October 2019, according to which the use of single-use plastic is prohibited onboard vessels on board Indian ships and foreign ships, when these ships are at a port or place in India.
Now, concerning Liberia-flagged vessels, the Liberian Maritime Authority reminds that SUP are defined as “disposable plastics which are used only once and then thrown away by the user” .
In addition, the Authority notes that the items excluded from the ban are:
- Plastic items re-used on ships
- Juice/milk packets / tetra-packs with plastic lining or caps
- Biodegradable with stamp, marking, or certificate from manufacturer
- Cargo related items and packing materials
- Crew and passenger personnel effects for the time being
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Medicines
- Medical equipment
- Life-saving appliances
- Fire-fighting appliances
- Other statutory items
In the meantime, the Authority emphasizes on the importance of having and implementing a Ship Execution Plan onboard the vessel, to list all single use plastic used on board ships by 31 January 2020 and 31 March 2020 for passenger ships. Also, the SEP should also address how the vessel will not use SUP items while in port.
Vessels visiting Indian ports are not to use SUPs during their stay at an Indian port and need to include in their execution plan an outline of how the use of SUPs will be prevented. The DGS strongly urges the avoidance of using SUP onboard vessels.
Concluding, it is noted that although waste reception facilities will continue to be provided in all Indian ports, they should be segregated and marked for disposal.
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