The awareness of the environmental impacts of human activities, both on land and sea, has clearly risen over the past decades. Also, the consequences are well understood if no actions are taken. Conservation of our oceans, lakes and rivers is vital for a sustainable future for all of us.
“It took more than a decade to find the solution for the Treaty. The resolution shows that people and governments around the globe are nowadays more aware than ever of the environmental impacts of human activities, the importance of preservation, and the horrible consequences of failing in that task. We all should acknowledge that in the maritime industry and consider the impacts of vessels on the fragile marine environment”, says Alejandro Álvarez Camino, Product Line Manager, Wastewater treatment systems at Evac Group.
“We see a clear trend in our customers’ behavior. Most of them already consider the environmental impacts of products or solutions carefully before buying them. Moreover, organizations and governments work on stricter regulations and controls to protect the environment and minimize emissions,” Álvarez Camino continues.
When regulation and legislation become more stringent at sea, nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen will be controlled in larger areas, more analysis and monitoring will be required, and emerging pollutants, compounds recently identified as dangerous, will be in the spotlight. A good example of the last is microplastics which will be controlled more carefully in the future.
“But the question is, are we all ready when the regulation so requires? If taking an example from the merchant vessel segment, several studies show that today only one out of ten cargo vessels meet the current effluent requirements. If that is the case, should we start preparing for the future already?”
The development of sustainable solutions and work towards a future with no waste are crucial motivators for our business at Evac. Our wastewater treatment solutions are designed to comply with current standards and regulations and go beyond.
“By choosing our wastewater systems, the operators are able to minimize the impact on the marine environment. By correctly using our systems, no untreated waste is dumped at sea. Even though MARPOL still allows unprocessed food waste and wastewater discharge into the sea under certain conditions, that is not the right thing to do. Attitudes must start changing before it’s too late for marine biodiversity,” Álvarez Camino says.
For over 40 years, Evac’s mission has been to modernize waste and wastewater management. Today, our goal is nothing less than to enable a future with no waste by focusing on circularity and life below water.
Constant co-creation and innovation with our customers and partners give us valuable insight into needs and requirements, legislation development and how we can keep improving the circularity and safeguarding marine biodiversity. Meanwhile, we also gain fundamental information for developing new innovative technologies of sustainable water and waste management solutions onboard vessels.
