In the second half of the last century, many ships and pleasure craft were built in polyester instead of wood and metal. Many of these pleasure craft are now at the end of their lives and ripe for scrapping. Worrying figures are circulating in our neighbouring countries: 25 000 vessels ready for scrapping in the Netherlands, 50 000 in France and in the United Kingdom ... At the moment, we have no insight into the situation in Flanders, partly because we have no scrapyards that specialise in these polyester ships.
With this project, the Flemish Yacht Harbour of Nieuwpoort wants to map out the problem in Flanders (the coastal region) and conduct research into a long-term sustainable solution.
First, we questioned Flemish coastal marinas and related companies about the presence of ships that are ready for scrapping or that have been neglected on their premises. Next, we collected and tried to recycle several scrapped boats ourselves to gain more insight into the demolition and recycling process, especially regarding the polyester material and the financial aspects.
VYNieuwpoort
Partners OVAM - afdeling Afval- en Materialenbeheer
Sectors
We believe that our project has an interesting business model and we will continue to develop it. In the meantime, we have purchased a crane to reduce the material.
We are also continuing our research into more efficient polyester recycling, hopefully in cooperation with new partners we have met during this project, such as Houtland nv, a company that wants to use the waste stream as a filler for new constructions.
In addition, there will be a better break-down area on new sites.
A cooperation with the Vlaamse Waterweg, in order to tackle the same problem on the inland waterways of Flanders, could increase the economic feasibility of this project.