Associated British Ports has honed its waste management facilities to such an extent that all its ports have an MCA approved Waste Management Plan. ABP’s facilities account for the safe disposal of some 52,000t of general solid waste and approximately 6m litres of liquid oily waste generated by ships visiting its ports each year.

In February 2004, ABP launched  an electronic-notification procedure, a dedicated waste website and a central database to receive and record information on the different waste streams generated by ships and their activities. This allows the ship's master, or an agent acting on the ship operators’ behalf to log on and enter details of the different waste streams being carried, in advance of arrival at port.

A Port Waste Management Plan defines all relevant responsibilities, present procedures and future planning aspects for the overall management of ship-generated waste received in the port. The Plan can also includes provisions for sanitary cleaning of port waters for debris and other elements. Such a Plan usually comprises the following elements:

• Legal aspects
• Organisational aspects
• Traffic and waste analysis
• Ship waste handling procedures
• Definition of responsibilities
• Cost recovery system
• Waste registration procedures
• Communication procedures
• Control and enforcement procedures
• Ownership of reception facilities
• Technical installations
• Conceptual maintenance plan