Story Story of Ship Recycling

1. Our lives are supported by ships.
2. Current State of Ship Recycling
3. End-of-life Ships are not “Wastes”, they are “Resources”.
4. Problems with local environmental pollution and incidents of worker injury and fatality in the ship-breaking yards.
5. Change Ship Recycling!
6. Enacting Ship Recycling Treaty which includes obligation rules to minimize the labor accidents and environmental pollution is urgently needed.
7. Japan as Shipbuilder and Fleet Owner
8. Change the world seas from the Muroran Ship Recycling Study Group

It is said that up to 90% of a ship’s materials can be recycled, and they are used in various industries such as construction.
Dismantled ships are not “wastes”. They are important “resources” especially for developing nations.

Until the 1980’s, the dismantling of ships was carried out in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, but starting in the 1990’s demand for iron in Bangladesh, India, and China began to grow, and this coupled with the low cost of manual labor in these countries led to the industry moving there.
Ship recycling in developed countries has been stopped due to economic conditions, so end-of-life ships all over the world are sold to these developing countries.