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 sorted (into specific categories), relative to the total collected volume.
How to measure its value
Waste collection reports are available through the port reception facility operators (also accessible on the SafeSeaNet European database) and in some countries through the PMB.
It might be necessary to convert data from certain waste categories to cubic meters as a common unit, to allow for correct addition of the total amount of sorted waste. For general mixed waste, a generalised conversion rate of 200 kg to 1 m² may be used or 0,06 m³ per 60L bag of household waste.
Limitations
- One cannot assume that all sorted waste is effectively being recycled or reused.
- For this indicator it is possible to use 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, it is optional to leave those out of the calculation.
- The European coding system EURAL (European Waste List), is not compatible with the MARPOL classification, which causes confusion on the (non)recycling of SGW. The lack of a harmonised classification system may hamper cross-port comparison.
Recommended Reads
- OVAM, Flanders’ Public Waste Agency, dedicated ship generated waste regulations webpage.
- Eurostat Waste coding methodology