Ship Recycling overview as COP26 approaches

I am not sure if the Basel Convention is part of the agenda as the Conference of parties governs the convention as per Article 15 of the convention. We must collectively approach and look to include discussion on the Basel convention in the conference of parties. Climate concerns has to dealt with at a global level with intergovernmental cooperation.

Recycling is an integral part and an essential instrument against climate change. On the whole, it can contribute to preserving our oceans, forests and the environment. If it’s about emissions, then recycling of steel (cold rolling) is much more effective in reducing emissions than an Arc Furnace.

Ship Breaking Vs Ship Recycling

Ship recycling is where the steel is reused in its original form, and the other parts of the ship are carefully taken off to be sold back to the marine industry or ancillary industries, also supports a multidimensional social impact, which is yet to be taken into account.

Nevertheless, recycling is a readily deployable instrument that any government or nation can have for battling climate change, having an immediate and tangible impact in reducing emissions and providing positive support to the environment.

India is a developing economy where the per capita emissions and energy consumption are half compared to the countries in Europe. The environmental carrying capacity has not yet been realized or exhausted as in most developed countries.

The environmental burden for building a ship is more than the environmental burden of recycling a ship in a developing country where the steel is reused. The proof, Steel prices in India and Bangladesh are powering through the pandemic and trading at an all-time high because “We don’t recycle, we upcycle”. A circular economy may not be restricted to any one country, multiple countries can come together to complete the cycle which starts at building a ship at a developed country to recycling a ship and reuse of materials at a developing country. The economies have to be connected where one can complement the other.

By inclusion of the ship recycling issue in the COP, we can certainly give a much-needed push to the EU SRR directive and the Hong Kong Convention, which are specific to ship recycling. This may be our chance to add to the Basel Convention as the convention does not allow any exceptions. A bilateral agreement between India and Europe or maybe EU SRR combines with the HKC as an addition to the Basel Convention can be the game-changer here.

The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and do not necessarily those of  SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion  purposes only.