EnvironmentMaritime CEOOperations

IMPA SAVE: A plastic bridge to the moon

The global fleet’s annual consumption of plastic drinking water bottles at sea could build a 1.5 m wide bridge to the moon every year, according to IMPA SAVE, an initiative launched under the umbrella of the International Marine Purchasing Association (IMPA).

IMPA SAVE was formed in June 2020 to bring together members of the maritime industry to support sustainability initiatives and to take action that supports the UN 2030 agenda, with its first goal being the mass reduction of plastic drinking water bottles from the world’s fleet. It is chaired by Mikael Karlsson, head of business development at Stena’s Northern Marine Group.

In joining IMPA SAVE, shipowners, shipmanagers and shoreside suppliers pledge to significantly reduce or remove single-use plastic water bottles from their operations. The industry buys 1bn litres of water and creates an estimated 40 tonnes of plastic waste each year from water bottles alone. “Today more than 40 owners and managers have pledged, and over 30 suppliers who work on their end to find alternative solutions to plastic have pledged to the IMPA SAVE suppliers pledge,” Karlsson says.

He was asked to lead IMPA’s new environmental pillar after attending IMPA London in 2019 with a bracelet made of plastic caps and a recycled suit and jacket to raise awareness about how plastic affects our oceans.

Since then, likeminded people have joined the IMPA SAVE board, and today its council is made up of a leading group of shipowners and maritime suppliers, representing companies with a combined fleet of more than 1000 vessels and massive collective purchasing power. Representatives from Maersk Procurement, Teekay Shipping, Wilhelmsen Ship Management, OneCare Solutions and Weco Shipping are represented on the council.

Karlsson, who is also IMPA’s special ambassador for sustainability, believes that having a water purification system onboard is a quick and easy way to eliminate plastic drinking water bottles before 2025.

He and his colleagues on the SAVE council believe the damage to the environment can be significantly reduced by this solution, which is also less expensive for shipowners and managers than procuring thousands of single-use plastic bottles.

“We got data indicating a vessel spends $6,000 on the purchase of bottled drinking water annually, and then adding lifting, transport and waste costs, an owner or manager ends up paying another $3,000. The solutions to produce and filtrate the water onboard cost between $3,000 to $6,000, so the ROI is within the first year,” he claims.

Over 10% of the global fleet has already committed to this, but he says that so many companies do not make the change due to challenges such as the culture onboard not trusting the source providing drinking water. For him, communication is the key and the companies pledging have been good at sharing their challenges to help their peers.

Although in a perfect world IMPA SAVE would like to see all single-use plastic and other single-use items not enter ships and source alternatives, Karlsson says the initiative is to reduce and it is also “learning by doing, so when companies begin this journey, most find more and more to reduce”.

Going forward, the IMPA SAVE programme will be extended beyond drinking bottles. Karlsson finds that some 150 items have the possibility of being phased out. Companies at IMPA London introduced the ECA technology, which replaces the need for detergents and other cleaning solutions and can be expanded to degreasers as well.

Karlsson added that the IMPA SAVE programme creates awareness and several other organisations are supporting its initiatives, like the UK Chamber of Shipping. “It is also about communication and collaboration, so we all do what we can to improve and reduce our environmental footprint.”

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