Indicator
Ships are required by international, European, and local regulations to declare and deliver waste to port reception facilities. When properly sorted and processed, much of this waste can be recycled. The remainder is incinerated (with or without energy recovery) or sent to landfill. This indicator expresses the share of ship-generated waste in the port area that is recycled, reused, or repurposed, relative to the total collected volume.
How to measure its value
Waste collection reports from the port reception facility operators (also accessible onthe SafeSeaNet European database) and in some countries through the PMB.
Notes
For this indicator it is recommended to limit the definition of ship generated waste to MARPOL Annex I, IV and V items, as other items (Annex II, III and VI) are linked to specific operations and/or regulations.
The European coding system EURAL (European Waste List), is not compatible with the MARPOL classification, which causes confusion on the (non)recycling of SGW.
One cannot assume that all recyclable waste is effectively being recycled. This could lead to bias on the measurement.
Recommended Reads
- OVAM, Flanders’ Public Waste Agency, dedicated ship generated waste regulations webpage.
- Eurostat Waste coding methodology