Old ships can have a useful and profitable new life as scrap metal. EU rules aim to change current ship recycling practices to make them greener and safer, protecting both the environment and people. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation is a European solution for responsible business, applying from January 2019. The Regulation implements the 2009 Hong Kong International Convention on ship recycling, which is not yet in force. Governments are still working on ratification. In the meantime, the EU is leading the way. The Regulation is a model for ship recycling around the world. The only instrument of its kind, it has prompted improvements for ships and yards well beyond the EU. Building on the achievements of this Regulation, the EU will continue to pursue an ambitious approach to ship recycling, at home and globally.

Dr. Anand Hiremath is a Civil Engineer and holds a Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati). He spent six years carrying out extensive research and prepared a doctoral thesis on: Integrated Risk Assessment Framework for Development of Best Practices in Ship Recycling. Recently, he was awarded Doctorate Degree for his research work on Ship Recycling by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). In addition, he has a diploma in Industrial Safety and is a qualified OHSAS 18001:2007 and ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor from Bureau Veritas and IRQS, respectively. Dr. Hiremath is also an "Approved Haz. Mat. Expert" from DNV GL. Dr. Hiremath has been a member of the GMS family for the last two years as Green Recycling Specialist, based in Bhavnagar, India, where he works closely with select yards ensuring compliance with the guidelines of the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. Moreover, Dr. Hiremath is responsible for the development and implementation of GMS Responsible Ship Recycling Programme (GMSRSRP) and is the Head of Research and Development Division of GMS. He has participated in several projects on Green Ship Recycling, including the European Union FP6 funded project (DIVEST) and has conducted a study on preventive technological interventions for improving environmental attributes of ship recycling (Green Alang Initiative) funded by the Gujarat Maritime Board, Government of Gujarat, India. Dr. Hiremath's extensive research is more likely to be the most comprehensive study on Ship Recycling anywhere in the world, which provides conclusive scientific evidence that proves responsible ship recycling can be done in India. Dr. Hiremath's research has been published in scientific journals in USA, Europe, UK and India.

Ship recycling conserves resources, employs an unskilled workforce, and removes outdated tonnage. Operating mainly on the Indian subcontinent, this ‘primitive’ industry often results in loss of human life and pollution of the marine environment. Despite moral indignation, the international community has struggled to manage this industry and only recently completed the IMO International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. Using the Indian experience on shipbreaking as a case study, this book assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Convention. The author argues that the Convention may not succeed because it fails to strike a balance between environmental protection, human rights, and commercial realities. The book offers recommendations for a holistic and integrated approach to a sustainable ship recycling industry.

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the Hong Kong Ship Recycling Convention as adopted in May 2009 and a thorough analysis of the overall status quo of ship recycling regulations. It investigates the lack of sufficient ratifications of the Convention from both a legal and an economic perspective. The first part of the study focuses on the history of the Convention’s entry-into-force provision and the rationale behind it. Due to the fact that this provision provides a considerable additional obstacle to the Convention’s becoming legally binding, in the second part the focus of the work shifts to unilateral action in this field. An overview of the legal environment of European ship recycling legislation is followed by an analysis and evaluation of a number of proposals by the European Commission attempting to tackle the problems of current ship recycling procedures. With a particular emphasis on (planned) European measures in this regard, the analysis’ overall message is one of cautious optimism.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. In this authoritative book, Ioanna Hadjiyianni and Kleoniki Pouikli incisively map out the regulatory landscape of ship recycling, exploring the main international and European regulatory approaches that govern its environmental impacts. In light of the transnational demands of environmental justice, they critically assess the interaction between multiple regimes from the perspective of key environmental principles and the EU’s attempts to steer regulatory developments in this field.

Most of the world’s redundant ships are scrapped on the beaches of the Indian sub-continent, largely by hand. As well as cargo residues and wastes, ships contain high levels of hazardous materials that are released into the surrounding ecology when scrapped. The scrapping process is labour-intensive and largely manual; injuries and death are commonplace. Ship breaking was a relatively obscure industry until the late 1990s. In just 12 years, action by environmental NGOs has led to the ratification of an international treaty targeting the extensive harm to human and environmental health arising from this heavy, polluting industry; it has also produced important case law. Attempts to regulate the industry via the Basel Convention have resulted in a strong polarization of opinion as to its applicability and various international guidelines have also failed because of their voluntary nature. The adoption of the Hong Kong Convention in 2009 was a serious attempt to introduce international controls to this industry.