The shipyard sector doesn’t usually come to mind when you think of recycling and sustainability. But at Hirtshals Yard, this has long been standard practice.
Waste is separated into 19 different grades – including fluorescent tubes, batteries, paint, waste oil, plastic, insulation, electronics, concrete, cardboard, and many more.
As for many other companies, one of the incentives to optimise the company’s work with their green transition and sustainability was a financial gain in the form of selling iron and metal for recycling.
However, Hirtshals Yard made the decision some years ago to take their waste management to the next level for environmental reasons. This process is continuously adjusted to ensure even better waste management.
‘When you work within the shipyard industry, and your job is to demolish things, it is necessary to be able to sort your waste into many different categories,’ said Hirtshals Yard CEO Peter Jørgensen, adding that the company plans to expand waste sorting and recycling initiatives.
‘It is also an area that is constantly being expanded. One of the places where we see a possibility for improvement is, for example, providing better information for the crews on ships. The crews on the ships that cross our paths are often from countries that don’t have the same standard within waste sorting as Denmark, and that results in many materials not being recycled as they should.’
From 2023, companies such as Hirtshals Yard will be subject to the same rules of waste sorting as regular households in Denmark. Consequently, the next step includes improving the sorting of kitchen waste which is often a mix of glass, cardboard, metal, plastic, and more being deposited all together.
