Environmental concerns about Ship dismantling

Environmental concerns about Ship dismantling

Subject : Environment

Section: POLLUTION

Context: Brazil’s navy planned to scuttle the hull of the decommissioned aircraft carrier Sao Paulo despite protests from Brazil’s environment ministry. The major concern about the aged ship’s sinking is the presence of at least nine tons of asbestos in the hull, along with smaller quantities of other undesirable substances such as oil and chemical coatings.

Concept: 

• Globally, about 70 countries have banned the use of asbestos, but those such as the US, India and China have not.
• Despite being banned from ships since 2002, recent estimates indicate that asbestos is “still found in over 65 per cent of vessels, including 50 per cent of all new builds.”

Asbestos contamination:

• Asbestos has been used on ships as both a fire retardant and an insulator to protect sailors from the constant and jarring vibrations of ships’ engines.Asbestos is a silicate compound found naturally in the environment and the mining operations used to extract it from the hills which had a rich source of this compound.
• Asbestos is a strong incombustible fibre which is used for fireproofing and insulation. It also has a very high tensile strength. Consequently, it has umpteen uses — cement roofing sheets and piping and textile and automobile industries.
• It releases from scuttling the ship in the middle of the ocean is likely to release high quantities of asbestos into the water which runs the risk of entering our food cycle.

Other issues

• The presence and removal of plastics, ozone depleting substances, bilge water containing oil, oil sludge, anti-fouling paints, polystyrene, foam, ash, glass, and insulation.
• Waste discharges to the sea and environment surrounding the recycling facility are also potential risks. Dismantling can impact on air, water, and soil quality, therein affecting biodiversity and local ecosystems. And recycling can generate heavy metals and pollutants in cutting areas.

Basel Convention

• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22 March 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland.
• Basel Convention’s thrust at the time of its adoption was to combat the “toxic trade”.
• The Basel Convention, which entered into force in 1992, regulates the international trade of hazardous wastes and is relevant for ship dismantling as a ship usually contains hazardous materials in its structure

NGO Shipbreaking Platform 

• The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a global coalition of organisations working to reverse the environmental harm and human rights abuses caused by current shipbreaking practices and to ensure the safe and environmentally sound dismantling of end-of-life ships worldwide.
• The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a coalition of environmental, human and labour rights organisations.
• Its goal is to find sustainable solutions that encompass the principles of human rights, corporate accountability, environmental justice, “polluter pays”, producer responsibility and clean production.