Bencros advances sustainable marine fenders

Bencros Marine Fenders has strengthened its sustainability offering by independently verifying the carbon savings embedded in its recycled-rubber marine fenders, enabling customers to transfer certified emission reductions into their own greenhouse gas inventories.

The Slovakia-based manufacturer produces fenders using rejected rubber compounds from tyre factories and industrial production, combined with rubber powder made from end-of-life tyres. This approach diverts material that might otherwise be incinerated or disposed of while reducing reliance on virgin rubber.

During 2024 and 2025, Bencros reused 5,070 tonnes of rubber waste, generating 13,112 tonnes of verified CO2e emission reductions under Proba’s methodology. Bureau Veritas independently verified the reductions.

Each tonne of Bencros fender carries around 2.6 tonnes of traceable CO2e savings compared with a fender made using virgin rubber. Of this, 2.42 tonnes per tonne can be accounted for by customers under Scope 3, Category 1 – Purchased goods and services, while a further 0.16 tonnes from avoided incineration is reported separately as a climate contribution.

“This is not an offset,” said Joost Komijn, founder and chief executive of Bencros. “This saving happens inside the product you actually bought, in your own supply chain, and it comes straight off your own reported footprint.”

The certificates are registered under the customer’s name and traceable to the recycled rubber used in the fender. Priced at €80 per tonne of CO2e saved, proceeds support waste collection, recycling, processing, quality control and independent verification.

The initiative forms part of Bencros’s wider circular approach. The company operates a take-back system allowing end-of-life fenders to be returned, shredded and incorporated into new production. From 2026, it is also supplying reprocessed unvulcanised rubber compound to other rubber-product manufacturers.

Bencros expects the certified programme to deliver close to 5,000 tonnes of CO2 savings during 2026.