Tag: recycling

Press Release – Most EU ships are being scrapped in South Asia despite sufficient domestic recycling capacity, confirms new study

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

Only 5% of EU ships' tonnage was dismantled in Europe despite the capacity to recycle much more. Vast majority of end-of-life ships are sent for beaching in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh under poor environmental and safety standards.

GALLOO ship recycling yard, Ghent, Belgium

© GALLOO

- Between 2019 and 2025, only 22% of EU ships were recycled in an EU facility, representing just 5% of the total recycling tonnage;

- Nearly half were beached in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan - representing 66% of total tonnage. 102 ships swapped their EU flag to another flag shortly before dismantling to avoid stricter EU rules;

- In 2020, EU recycling capacity stood at 2.1 million Light Displacement Tonnes (LDT). Yet of the 1.4 million LDT of EU-owned tonnage dismantled that year, over two-thirds ended up on South Asian beaches;

- EU facilities can accommodate large vessels, with at least 6 to 8 yards capable of recycling ships up to 330 meters long.

The vast majority of EU-owned or EU-flagged ships are being scrapped under poor conditions in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while EU-located ship recycling facilities operate under capacity, a new study from the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and T&E shows. This is both an environmental scandal and a loss of high-quality materials for the EU economy, say the NGOs, who issued a report concluding that the EU has enough domestic capacity to recycle all EU-flagged and EU-owned vessels.

 

Between 2019 and 2025, 706 EU-flagged and/or EU-owned ships were dismantled worldwide. Only 22% were recycled in EU-located facilities, representing just 5% of the total tonnage. Nearly half were beached in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan - 66% of total tonnage. The remaining ships were dismantled mostly in Turkish shipbreaking yards.

"This is not just an environmental issue. It is a profound failure of EU industrial strategy, prioritising strategic resilience and material autonomy on paper, while in reality letting valuable steel be lost to third markets. The EU speaks of reducing dependence on imported critical materials, yet, it lets its shipowners evade regulations and export millions of tonnes of recoverable steel that could be processed domestically. This is not strategic autonomy."
Philippine Bernard - Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

South Asian shipbreaking relies on beaching, with ships being dismantled directly on the beach with no containment. This practice leads to water and ground contamination through the discharge of hazardous materials. Additionally, dangerous working conditions due to operating on a tidal mudflat are also a major concern.

 

The EU Waste Shipment Regulation prohibits ships becoming waste in EU waters from being exported to a non-OECD country, while the EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires EU-flagged vessels to use an EU-approved facility. In reality, most of the EU-owned fleet continues to be scrapped in substandard yards in South Asia, with shipowners either reflagging their ships or fraudulently claiming to continue operations to evade waste export restrictions. As a result, the EU continues to export toxic waste in the form of end-of-life vessels. As many as 102 ships swapped their EU flag for another flag shortly before dismantling to avoid EU restrictions.

 

In July, the European Commission announced plans to add the first beaching ship recycling facilities to the EU’s approved list. This will make it easier to dump ships overseas, say the Shipbreaking Platform and T&E. EU-based yards operate under high environmental and labour standards. Approving substandard beaching yards would penalise responsible European industry and reward harmful practices that are effectively not approved in EU Member States.

Disclaimer: With some EU-flagged vessels being also EU-owned, some ships are counted twice in this graph. Consequently, the overall LDT of ships dismantled each year is most likely overestimated. This only reinforces the  conclusion that the EU has sufficient recycling capacity.

In 2020, the year with the biggest number of ships dismantled worldwide, EU facilities had an overall recycling capacity of 2.1 million light displacement tonnes (LDT) while the total of EU-owned ships dismantled that year amounted to 1.4 million LDT. Over two-thirds of EU-owned tonnage was dismantled on beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Every vessel beached could have been accommodated by a minimum of 6 to 8 EU yards.

 

Up to 95% of the weight of a ship can be recycled as high-quality scrap steel. In a previous report, the Shipbreaking Platform concluded that almost 12,000 EU-owned ships would reach end of life in the next decade, which could yield up to 12 million tonnes of steel yearly. Shipbreaking in Europe represents a major economic opportunity.

"Secondary steel production via electric arc furnaces using recycled scrap is one of the most effective pathways to decarbonise the sector. By outsourcing its valuable scrap, the EU is starving its own green steel transition of feedstock."
Benedetta Mantoan - Policy Manager - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Persisting policy gaps prevent the ship recycling from aligning with the strategic plans of the Union. Beaching, considered the most dangerous shipbreaking method, must be explicitly banned, not authorised based on shipowners’ false claims of insufficient EU capacities. The EU must align the reality with its declared circularity and decarbonisation pledges. Without closing gaps such as the re-flagging to flags of convenience, ambitious plans will be more of the Commission's wishful thinking. Finally, the EU must continue its efforts to actively promote and support the best practices in the ship recycling sector to ensure a global level playing field.

 

The report is available under this link.

Save The Date – Ship Recycling Lab 2026: Transformation Through Innovation

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

After the successful organisation of two editions of the Ship Recycling Lab: Transformation Through Innovation back in 2022 and 2024, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, still recognising the need for visionary solutions for ship recycling, is ready to host its third edition of the Lab on 14 -15 October 2026 in Marseille, France.

The event will bring together forward-thinking stakeholders from the maritime, recycling and steel sectors, financial institutions and policy makers to showcase and exchange ideas for best practices and strategies for ship demolition, design, waste management and material recovery in line with ethical circular policy goals.

Providing visibility to companies that have developed solutions, including innovative cutting techniques, new state-of-the-art waste handling procedures, cradle to cradle concept design, and clean steel breakthrough technologies aimed at achieving a zero-carbon steel making process, the Lab intends to set the bar for tomorrow’s ship recycling.

Come join us and 100+ progressive stakeholders for networking opportunities, inspiring keynote speaker sessions, thought-provoking presentations and interactive panel discussions.

Early bird tickets are now on sale! Get them fast before they run out!

Ship Recycling Lab 2024, Lisbon, Portugal

Press Release – Ship recycling can and should boost circularity, sustainable transition, and creation of green jobs in the EU steel and recycling sectors

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform, Recycling Europe, and EUROFER publish a joint statement calling the EU for a recognition of the strategic importance of the European ship recycling sector. The signing parties highlight the numerous benefits of ship recycling for the European steel market in light of circularity and the green transition towards low-carbon production methods, and outline concrete policy actions needed to unlock its full potential.

Why ship recycling matters:

- an aging global fleet – studies forecast a five‑fold increase in end‑of‑life (EoL) vessels by 2033;

- material recovery – between 70 % and 95 % of a ship’s weight can be reclaimed as high‑quality scrap, supplying the steel industry with a substantial secondary‑raw‑material stream;

- the EU stake – companies based in the EU and EFTA own about one‑third of the world’s fleet, placing the continent in a pivotal position to steer the transition.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform recently published a thorough report on the role of scrap steel from end-of-life ships in the decarbonisation efforts of the European steel industry. The report suggested several policy changes that could increase access to high quality secondary steel from the maritime sector.

Now joined by the European recycling and steel sectors, we call on the European Commission to adopt effective measures to increase capacity in the EU to recycle the many ships that will head for scrap in the coming years.

In order to keep the valuable steel in the European market, and therefore contribute to strategic material autonomy, the signing parties call the European Commission for:

- Closing the re-flagging loophole in the EU Ship Recycling Regulation by enlarging its scope to the real owners of vessels

- A true level playing field: only fully compliant yards approved

- Investment & financing to scale EU ship recycling capacity

- Transparency from shipowners on fleet retirement plans

- Recognition of ship recycling in the upcoming Circular Economy Act

By keeping valuable steel within the EU, the proposed actions will:

- accelerate decarbonisation – each tonne of recycled ferrous scrap avoids roughly 1.6 t CO₂ (carbon steel) or 5 t CO₂ (stainless steel) compared with primary production;

- strengthen strategic material autonomy – reduces reliance on imported iron ore and coal, shortening supply chains;

- create green employment – modern ship‑recycling yards and green steel sector generate jobs in engineering, environmental management and advanced manufacturing;

- uphold Europe’s leadership – reinforces the EU as a front‑runner in environmental stewardship, worker safety and circular economy policy.

Bringing back ship recycling to the EU is also a question of environmental justice as ships contain many hazardous materials of which the export to South Asian beaches is prohibited by international law. The EU should take responsibility for its ships and ensure their safe and environmentally sound recycling. Strengthening the domestic ship recycling sector will contribute to the EU’s circularity objectives, its strategic material autonomy, while creating green jobs in synergy with the steel market.

You can find the full statement by clicking here.

Platform News – Workshop on Best Available Techniques in ship recycling held at University of Strathclyde, followed by a visit to Kishorn Dry Dock

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform successfully organised a workshop on Best Available Techniques (BAT) in ship recycling at the Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, followed by a visit to Kishorn Dry Dock and Port between 12–14 November 2025.

The event, part of the Safe, Healthy and Environmental Ship Recycling (SHEREC) project, brought together experts, industry stakeholders, and policymakers from the UK to explore innovative approaches to ship recycling and possibilities for enhancing capacity in the country.

Discussions highlighted the importance of advancing circularity, including the use of AI-based solutions, optimised material recovery, the concept of ship material passports and how advanced technologies can strengthen competitiveness.

Building on the theme of innovation, Johannes Thrane from Afdecom and John Jacobsen from Circles of Life presented the OPPSIRK project, which focuses on upcycling steel from decommissioned ships for direct reuse in the construction sector. Anıl Sefer Günbeyaz from the University of Strathclyde shared further case studies on circularity in the maritime sector, and emphasized the added value of having a ship material passports to support better material recovery and broader decarbonisation efforts.

Focusing on capacity to recycle ships in the UK, Steve Welham presented Kishorn Port and Dry Dock’s ongoing expansion and unique deep sea access capabilities. Mike Dixon from Wolvinston Group reflected on lessons learnt from Atlas Decom’s efforts to establish a new ship recycling yard at Inchgreen Dry Dock and why it never recycled a vessel. Bill Cattanach from the North Sea Decommissioning Authority outlined the complex challenges of recycling floating oil and gas structures, particularly those contaminated with Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM). He underlined the need for fully licensed UK-based facilities to safely carry out such operations in compliance with international law and national regulations.

Finally, Rafet Emek Kurt from the University of Strathclyde shared his award-winning work on developing SHIELD (Safety Human Incident & Error Learning Database), a human factors tool used to analyse and ultimately prevent maritime accidents, and how it could be used to better understand underlying accidents in also the ship recycling sector.

The workshop concluded with a visit to Kishorn Port and Dry Dock.

"The workshop reinforced that advancing BAT, circularity, and sustainable practices in ship recycling requires policy support, technological innovation, stakeholder engagement, and strong human-centred approaches. Many ships will be heading for scrap in the coming years of which the UK could sustainably recycle, all whilst contributing high quality scrap for the decarbonisation of its steel production."
Ekin Sakin - Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform