2022 May June Marina world

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS & INITIATIVES
GCCM has led the way in sustainable
initiatives, such as solar power.
promotion. With the support of the
City, GCCM established a presence
on an Australia-based platform called
ASPIRE (Advisory System for Process
Innovation and Resource Exchange)
where it started to trade and sell
materials. The platform allows users
to connect with others who may have
‘waste’ that might be useful to someone
in one form or another. Materials that
may have normally incurred cost to
remove from site now potentially have
economic and environmental rewards –
‘one person’s trash is another person’s
treasure’ is an alternative to sending
some materials to landfill.
A good example of the concept in
practice was the break up of an endof-life
15-tonne vessel sent to GCCM
for disposal. Typically, this meant
that much of the vessel would end
in general waste but, based on the
project’s findings, proper steps were
put into place during the works. On-site
business Sweep Marine Services broke
up the vessel and diverted roughly 50%
of the materials from general waste
into timber recycling, scrap metal and
e-waste receptacles. With the help
of ASPIRE, the marina was able to
quantify this further into an embodied
carbon emission saving of 66.2 tonnes.
According to the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), this is equal
to 32.8ha (81.1 acres) of forest.
Another workshop with the same key
shipyard stakeholders, which focused
on the education and implementation
process of these activities, was
designed to drive a cultural shift in the
industry.
“A lot of new owners are asking about
recycled material. How do we make the
boat greener? How do we stop pollution
coming out of the vessel?” explained
Kevin Altera, GCCM general manager
operations and business development.
“It’s very important we keep that
conversation rolling – and we’re being
proactive,” he stressed.
BPC1993 Inland & Coastal 182x132 ad OLAW.indd 1 03/07/2020 11:48
www.marinaworld.com – May/June 2022 37