Hamburg tackles illegal waste dumping

This comes after the new Ship Waste Discharge Regulation (SchiffAbgV) was introduced by the Hamburg Senate earlier this month.

Any ship can now dispose of 6m³ of ship waste, instead of the previous 1m³, regardless of vessel size. The cost of a standard disposal of waste from the shipping industry, including the ship sanitation remain the same, and is dependent on the vessel size – between €10 and €105.

“Up to 600,000 cubic meters of garbage are thought to be on the floor of the North Sea alone,” said Jens Kerstan, Environment Senator. “Ship waste on the seabed is a major problem for fish, plants and the marine ecosystem. Plastic takes hundreds of years until it breaks down and degrades Microplastics enters the food chain and kill seabirds.”

For the first time, a quantitative limit for sanitation has been introduced of 200m³. In addition, the allowances for oil residues have been increased.

The disposal of residues from gas cleaning systems (scrubber sludge) will be subsidised with up to €450 in future.