A new proposal that will help Europe to comply with the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) has been released from The European Commission. It’s mainly focused on a revised law for the delivery of wastes from ships calling to ports and harbours, aiming to change how wastes are being delivered at ports and how it’s being paid. This includes an attempt to prevent discharges of waste at sea by giving fee payment structures, obligations to deliver waste at port and mandatory inspections to ensure compliance.
According to the European Commission, ships contribute with about 32% of marine litter in EU waters.
An important treat of this proposal is the 100% indirect fee system for waste delivery. Meaning that all ships will pay for the total cost of waste delivery in ports, regardless of whether they deliver any waste. An attempt to discourage waste dumping at sea.
Also, fishing vessels and recreational crafts might be affected as well with this proposal in an attempt to decrease waste coming from these.
However, this proposal still has to be negotiated by the Council and European Parliament, which is expected to last throughout 2018 and possibly into 2019 before becoming law.
Source: http://bit.ly/2BhroAl
