06 | Environmental Impact
Waste and plastic management
Hafnia recognises that waste from the vessels pose a major threat to the environment.
We are compliant with MARPOL Annex V and any local regulations for the prevention of pollution by garbage from ships. Under MARPOL Annex V, garbage includes all kinds of food, domestic and operational waste, all plastics, cargo residues, incinerator ashes, cooking oil, fishing gear, and animal carcasses generated during the normal operation of the ship and liable to be disposed of continuously or periodically. In line with this regulation, every ship within our fleet carries a garbage management plan on board, which includes written procedures for minimising, collecting, storing, processing, and disposing of garbage, including the use of the equipment on board.
Over and above compliance, we understand the particular risk that plastic poses to marine ecosystems and are continually working to reduce the volume of plastic waste created by our operations. In 2021, we reduced overall plastic waste by 7.5% below 2020 levels.
We achieved our target by reducing procurement and use of single-use plastics, returning of packaging material to suppliers and compressing plastics using a compactor.
Ship recycling
Hafnia and its subsidiaries are committed to conducting all its business in an ethical, legal and socially responsible manner to prevent, reduce and minimise accidents, injuries and other adverse effects on human health and the environment. This commitment extends to ship recycling with an ultimate objective to dispose ships responsibly, in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.
Recycling of any Hafnia vessel shall therefore be performed at a reputable and certified recycling facility. The selected recycling and demolition facility must hold a valid Class issued Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention 2009 or the EU Regulation 1257/2013.
The recycling may not cause pollution of the surrounding waters, land and atmosphere. The recycling must be in a manner in which hazardous materials onboard are identified, demarcated and carefully removed prior to, or during the recycling process and disposed of in a way which would render them harmless. We require that any recycling is performed in a manner where the safety, health and dignity of the human workforce involved is paramount, and that work practices and conditions of their employment ensure this.
Despite the presence of the aforementioned policy, Hafnia has not recycled any of its ships as we believe in selling them well before the end of their life cycles due to commercial reasons.