New sea garbage disposal regs for Oz
Oz is tackling waste at sea with new regs
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has introduced new regulations which prohibit the discharge of garbage into the sea from ships - except in very limited circumstances.
An AMSA spokesperson said to GreenPort: “It is expected these amendments will have minimal impact on the shipping industry in Australia. The main adjustment is an expected increase in the use of waste reception facilities in ports.
“The implementation of these amendments is a positive move towards the complete elimination of intentional pollution of the marine environment.”
Some of the major changes in the new regs include the fact that ships will no longer be able to discharge paper, cardboard, wood, packing materials, dunnage, glass, metal, crockery, incinerator ash or similar at sea. It won’t be mandatory to offload waste at every port of call and as long as it is properly stored, waste may be retained for bulk disposal at a relevant port of call.
The new regulations have been issued in marine notice 4/2012 called Revised Garbage Discharge Regulations for Ships and will come into force in January 2013.
This follows the amendments to Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) - the result of a review undertaken by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to place additional restrictions on the discharge of garbage from ships at sea.
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