Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) has launched a campaign to raise awareness and support the removal of single-use plastic bottles from ships.
The company has partnered with Ocean Bottle on co-branded reusable bottles which symbolise the change needed within the shipping industry.
Ocean Bottle creates products made partly from stainless steel and partly from recycled plastic found in the ocean.
The purpose is to ships moving from single-use plastic bottles to sustainable alternatives such as onboard water supplies or larger dispensers.
According to BIMCO, even if plastics on board ships are sorted, managed, and discharged to shore in a proper way, mismanagement of waste on land means it can still reach the ocean.
With up to 1.75 billion plastic bottles a year being used on board ships, BIMCO believes removing unnecessary plastics is the industry’s best option to help remove a source that may end up reaching the ocean.
It is important to note that the French container shipping company CMA CGM has halted the use of plastic onboard its vessels from 1 June 2022.
“We’ve learnt from members who have successfully implemented initiatives to remove single-use plastics bottles from their ships that providing crew with a reusable bottle, alongside other actions, can make a big difference,” commented Dr. Bev Mackenzie, head of Intergovernmental Engagement at BIMCO.
He added, “Over half of the companies that recently completed a BIMCO survey are already providing such bottles.”
The international shipping association estimates that an onboard system is a quarter of the cost of providing water in single-use plastic bottles and can pay for itself in just one year.
In addition, BIMCO suggests that refills can save around 2,355 kg of CO2 emissions per ship per year. Refilling a bottle from a modern system also supports crew welfare as today’s alternatives provide good quality, safe, and tasty drinking water.
Every bottle bought by BIMCO will fund the collection of 11.4 kg of Ocean Plastic from the world’s most polluted waterways. Plastic is collected by locals from some of the worst affected coastal communities such as the Philippines, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, India, and Indonesia, who then exchange the plastic for money or receive digital credit to swap for tuition, tech goods, healthcare, and micro-finance.
This infrastructure is made possible with help from partners Plastic Bank, Plastics for Change and rePurpose who set up collection sites and ensure transactions to collectors are secure through traceable technology.
The BIMCO/Ocean Bottle branded bottles will be distributed among key stakeholders, leaders, and volunteers over the months to come to help address single-use plastics on board and spread the campaign message.
