Boat dismantling and disposal at the end of life

When boats were built of wood, they naturally deteriorated and eventually decomposed when their useful lives were over. But with the advent of glass reinforced plastic (GRP), aka fibre reinforced plastic (FRP), when boats reach the end of their useful lives and maintenance becomes too arduous, it becomes difficult to find a solution for disposal of the GRP which does not break down. At some point, boats are of such little utility or monetary value that they are not worth the cost of upkeep and storage. Boats are often dumped once the cost of disposal exceeds the resale value. 

So what can you do? In many places, there are salvage operations that will dismantle and recycle vessels. Used boat part dealers may accept your old vessel for its parts, which they resell. Each dealer has its specific requirements for the length and type of vessel they will accept. Some dealers compensate the boat owner for the value of the useable parts minus the cost of dismantling the vessel and recycling or disposing of hazardous wastes. Despite recent attempts at breaking down the plastic into usable components, most still end up in landfills. There are, nevertheless, several new options for clean and responsible vessel disposal being introduced in various parts of the world.

In 2019, the Office for the London Convention/Protocol and Ocean Affairs of the International Maritime Organization published a report on the end-of-life management of fibre-reinforced plastic (e.g. fibreglass) vessels, and on alternatives to disposal at sea. IMO is one of the partners in the UN Environment-led Global Partnership for Marine Litter (GPML), and within the framework of this partnership, the LC/LP Secretariat was able to allocate GPML funding to commission the study. Although they identified the problems, they really didn’t offer any viable solutions.

Independently, the Blue Composites Project is seeking to recycle the GRP waste from the production and end-of-life of UK boats. Around 55,000 tonnes of GRP waste is produced from the UK marine sector every year, with the level expected to increase by 10% every year. 

The National Composites Centre (NCC), which aims to create the UK’s first glass fibre composites recycling and re-use facility, said that there are an estimated six million boats in the EU alone, 95% of which are made of GRP. Every year, around 1-2% (60,000-120,000) of these boats reach the end of their useful life. Of these, only 2,000 are recycled, while 6,000-9,000 are abandoned.

The European Boating Association noted that according to a study by the European Composites Industry Association, the marine element of composite waste streams is forecast to be around 10% of the total by 2025 (70 kilotons out of a 683 kilotons total). They have called for legislation around managing, scrapping and recycling of boats.

Perhaps the most intensive effort to date has been instituted by France. The Association for Eco-Responsible Pleasure Craft - APER - has dismantled more than 5,000 boats since it was set up three years ago. The figures released by the French organisation, which is financed by boat builders, approved dismantling centres, administrations, local authorities and marinas, show 33% of the boats were motorboats, around 32% were small sport sailboats - both monohulls and multihulls and just over 29% were monohull sailboats. The organisation covers boats from 2.5m to 24m that are registered in France. There are 26 dismantling centres across the country.

The French Energy Transition Act promotes the principle of extended producer responsibility and as a result, since 1 January 2019, anyone introducing the recreational craft to the French market on a professional basis must fund treatment facilities for their products.

The figures include the dismantling of more than 1,100 boats that have been collected from sailing clubs since a partnership was signed with the French Sailing Federation in 2020, with APER undertaking to finance the transport and processing of old sailing school boats.

The organisation works to help boatbuilders and owners be more responsible from the concept and design phase, including choice of materials, through to production and then the end of life of the boat. They help to ensure that boat parts and materials are recoverable, recyclable or reusable.

The EU-sponsored BOATCYCLE project, implemented in Spain and Italy between 2010 and 2012 and which attempted a ‘cradle-to-grave’ lifecycle analysis of vessels’ economic and environmental impacts, investigated disposal options for four types of vessels, a small yacht, a sizeable sailboat, a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) and a fully inflatable boat.

The project succeeded in demonstrating that fibreglass can be recovered as part of the EOL boat disposal process, that the fibres are readily cleaned and extraneous materials removed, that a useful proportion of the fibres’ original as-new properties are available in the recovered form, and that the fibres can have a second service life. Moreover, the resulting thermoplastic composites are, unlike thermosets, themselves recyclable since they can repeatedly be re-moulded under heat. It failed to capture the costs involved and who will pay.

Sweden has boat-breaking yards that have benefitted from projects and funding to assist with the clean-up and salvage of abandoned boats.

Norway has companies that are experimenting with grinding FRP down and using it to make flowerpots, benches and other items.

Germany has banned FRP from going to landfills, largely due to the problem of dealing with old wind turbine blades. This knock-on effect means waste FRP from boats can’t be put into landfills. So it’s burnt in power plants at very high temperatures to create energy – a surprisingly clean process that results in a pile of ash which can be sent to the landfill.

In 2018, there were 951,000 boats registered with Florida's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, an estimated 12 million documented boats across the U.S., and 280,000 new powerboats sold nationwide. It’s a big problem when boats reach a derelict state.

A system developed by American company Eco-wolf in the 1970s has been used to turn ground-down fibreglass into bathtubs, paving tiles, railway sleepers and even coffins. Other uses are making asphalt for road surfacing and mixed with cement to make concrete.

In the US, there is a funded project supported by the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA) to break boats down and use the waste FRP material as a fuel source for the cement industry. They created a model based on a project in the German wind industry, where used giant turbine blades were shredded and burned in cement kilns as an alternative to burning fossil fuels.

The State of California has introduced a Surrendered Vessel Program called SAVE which enables owners of an unwanted vessel to turn the boat over free of charge to a participating local agency. The agency then manages its dismantling and disposal.

The Vessel Disposal and Reuse Foundation founded in Virginia is a nonprofit organisation that removes abandoned and derelict vessels from waterways. They’ve scrapped more than 8000 pounds of metal and turned more than 85,000 pounds of debris over to landfills, helping to restore the health of the local ecosystems.

Canada has a funded scheme that is effectively combing the coastline looking for wrecks and abandoned boats and then disposing of them. They are asking the public to report wrecks or abandoned boats.

Of course, the best use would be a circular loop which would allow the waste to be used at the same level as it was originally. It would involve dissolving the resin and returning the GRP to its constituent parts. That thermochemical process is what Italian company Korec is developing.  

So although we don’t have the best solutions just yet, the good news is that people all over the world are working on finding them.