BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

3. Development of a waste manaqement strategy
Many ports have provided some sort of services for ships to
dispose of their wastes, whether formalized or not, or
adequate or not. However, it is obvious that ship-generated
wastes are only part of a port's total waste stream.
Similarly, all wastes received and generated in a port are
part of the waste stream of a country. As MARPOL only
addresses the provision of reception facilities for ships, the
waste handling practices in the port and in a country are
beyond the scope of the Convention.
Nevertheless, there are a number of reasons why the issue of
ship-generated waste should not be isolated from the waste
handling practices in a country.
It should be realized that reception facilities alone do not
solve the problem. Waste, once received on-shore, should be
dealt with in an environmentally sound way. Otherwise, actions
taken to prevent pollution of the sea, may merely transfer the
problem to land. For example, if ship generated wastes (or
land generated wastes) are dumped inappropriately, soil or
groundwater contamination may be the result.
A second reason is, while the proper management of wastes is
expensive, that the costs for remedial actions (e.g. related
to soil or groundwater contamination) are in general even
higher. An integrated approach of waste handling that
incorporates the entire life cycle of waste (from the moment
of generation until its final disposal) may save considerable
future expenses.
A third important argument is, that ship-generated wastes as
well as land generated wastes may contain valuable materials,
which can be reused. Discarding these wastes is an inefficient
use of resources, and recycling options may be worthwile to
explore.
Furthermore, waste minimization is an important subject.
Unnecessary waste production adds a burden on waste transport,
treatment and disposal facilities and should be avoided.
Development of a waste manaqement stratecv is a powerful tool
to establish a coherent system of waste handling practices and
facilities in a country.
Basically, a waste management strategy is a systematic problem
approach, which outlines how, and by whom, waste is managed.
It outlines the practical actions, such as collection,
transport and disposal, and the legislative and administrative
controls which ensure that these actions are carried out. A
waste management strategy incorporates handling of both shipgenerated
wastes, which are received in a port, and land
generated waste, either from domestic or industrial origin.
Obviously, a waste management strategy should become an
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