BIMCO has published a Best Practice Guide to help shipowners reduce their single-use plastic footprint by installing advanced drinking water systems onboard. The guide aims to ensure the highest quality drinking water is available onboard, prioritising seafarer wellbeing, reports BIMCO.
Survey
A survey by BIMCO in 2021 determined that between half a billion and one billion bottles of drinking water are used on board cargo ships for seafarer hydration needs per year. These are primarily single-use plastic (SUP) bottles.
As well as the catastrophic impact poorly managed plastic waste is having on the ocean plastic bottles have other environmental footprints such as high greenhouse gas emission (from production to supply) and high water-demand during production.
At BIMCO they have prioritised actions that allow shipowners to reduce and, where possible remove, SUP bottles from ships and we believe the shipping industry has the opportunity to show real leadership in this area.
Many of BIMCO members have already begun to take action to remove SUP used on their ships and demonstrated the potential to significantly reduce the number of plastic bottles purchased by a company through the purchase or leasing of an advanced drinking water system (or systems) that provides fresh potable water.
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Source: Bimco
