Plastic, clothing, scrap metal – more than 100 million tons of garbage have found their way to the world’s oceans, and pollute their sediments and beaches. This »marine litter« has grave ecological, economic and social consequences: sea birds and aquatic animals perish as a result of plastic garbage. Pollutants such as microplastics which accumulate in fish are dangerous to human health: not to mention the costs for the cleaning of beaches, which are particularly high in areas dependent on tourism.

The primary cause of this garbage problem is that only a few countries have waste management- and recycling systems. For small island nations, in particular, sustainable tourism is an essential economic necessity, as they are neither technologically nor financially able to realize a functioning waste management system.

This is where a project of the engineering company Lindenau Maritime Engineering & Projecting, of Altenholz near Kiel in Germany, begins. In two feasibility studies the company investigated an alternative waste disposal concept: the collection, preparation and recycling of residential wastes through a ship-based waste management system for island nations and large cities on coasts and rivers.

In an exemplary project on the Cape Verde islands in the central Atlantic, it has already become possible to project a »turnkey solution« based on the use of three ships. The essence of the Waste Recycling Ship (WRS) system is to interlink cost-intensive and high-income positions in order to work economically.

Plans involve the financing and operation of the overall system with the help of a »public-private partnership«. In the implementation phase, a technical reference would be available which could then be adopted worldwide on islands and in coastal regions.

Project implementation:
Lindenau Maritime Engineering & Projecting
Knooper Landstr. 6 K-L
24161 Altenholz
Telefon:    0431 | 38 90 470
info@lindenau-dirk.com
www.lindenau-dirk.de

AZ 32674