On October the 9th, the Transport Committee of the European Parliament adopted the Meissner report on the Port Reception Facilities and gave a mandate to the Rapporteur to start negotiations with the Council to finalize the text of the new law. In light of this, the Port of Rotterdam supports the view that minimization of waste discharges in the sea has plenty of benefits.
The Port of Rotterdam said that it offers waste reception facilities for a waste, including hazardous waste, but the polluter pays principle should be in included in the new law.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
Namely, the Port said that both environmentally aware vessels and ports with well-functioning waste facilities should not have to pay for the additional costs that result from unreasonable amounts of waste delivery.
For this, the Port welcomed the European Parliament proposal to enhance the ‘polluter pays principle’ by discouraging the delivery of unreasonable quantities of garbage, including hazardous waste, for a fixed fee.
This proposal gives more incentives to ships to deliver waste generated on board in the ports, while it also encourages ships to reduce the waste at the source, by preventing ships to deliver unreasonable amounts of waste without paying for it.
The Port of Rotterdam also welcomed the exclusion of ships that take part in port related services.
Nevertheless, the Port opposes to the fact that the European Parliament made rebates mandatory for the green management of waste on board of ships.
While encouraging ships to work on sustainable waste management, The Port of Rotterdam believes the decision to give rebates must be taken at port level.
Rebates address the local environmental challenges. In some areas, waste pollution is a great environmental concern while in others it is air quality and emissions. What is more, mandatory rebates do not consider the existence of different business and governance models in ports across Europe, the Port concludes.
