News / March 03 2022
Together with a group of leading shipping companies, Grieg Star joins Bimco to help reduce single-use plastics in the industry.
Last fall, our plastic projects team contacted Bimco to get some information. That contact led to Dr Mackenzie being so impressed by our insights that she invited Grieg Star to join Bimco in an informal workgroup. Our Maritime Auditor & Investigator Marlén Mellingen will represent Grieg Star in the group.
“It is a working group that will explore relevant issues around reducing disposable plastic onboard ships and then develop a campaign. The campaign aims to phase out disposable plastic bottles and replace them with sustainable alternatives or onboard systems that provide safe, good-quality drinking water,” Mellingen says.
In addition to Grieg Star, the working group led by Bimco has representatives from Cosco, Oceanwide Expeditions, Sanmar Shipping, Scorpio, Thome, and Wilhelmsen.
“We know that at the heart of a successful campaign will lie the willingness of the industry and, of course, the seafarers onboard ships. As such, we want to ensure we have a good understanding of all the initiatives already taking place,” Bimco writes on their website.
The workgroup will explore relevant issues, stimulate new ideas, encourage creative shipping-led solutions, and discuss how best to develop new proposals
In the last years, Grieg Star has implemented several measures to reduce the impact of plastic from our operations. In 2020, we started to install water dispensers and purchased high-quality water bottles for all our seafarers, to reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles. Last year, we managed a 35% reduction – and when the last ships get their dispensers, we expect further reductions.
Even if you remove much of the single-use plastics, a ship will always have some plastic waste. Last year, we decided to make sure we only delivered this waste to countries with an adequate handling of plastic waste. Due to good planning and the installation of compactors, we managed to ensure that we delivered over 80% of our plastic waste to “green” countries. At the same time, we reduced the amount of incinerated plastics to almost none.
More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year. That is equivalent to letting a garbage truck empty a lot of plastic into the ocean.
14% of all litter comes from beverage containers. When caps and labels are considered, the number is higher. The average U.S. citizen consumes 167 plastic water bottles each year.
Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.
Over 90% of all seabirds have plastic pieces in their stomachs. That makes them feel less hungry, which in the end may result in them starving.
We are working with our supplies to find non-plastic solutions. In 2021, we will only deliver plastic waste to countries with a high-level handling systems.
Facts: plasticoceans.org and nationalgeographic.com
