Our very existence and our consumption habits generate significant amounts of waste on a daily basis. Across the globe, diverse technological solutions already exist for managing waste through source separation, transformation, and recycling, primarily aiming to reduce landfill volumes. This waste, without the correct infrastructure or management processes, pollutes soil, air, and water, also emits a significant amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute to global warming.

Marinas, like all economic service activities, generate significant volumes of waste as part of their daily operations, many of which are classified as hazardous waste (fuel, antifouling, grease, oil, paint, etc.), and it is the responsibility of these facilities to manage them properly in order to reduce their impact on the marine and coastal environment.

That said, it is important that the marina's infrastructure and equipment are prepared to facilitate and implement the first step in sustainable waste management, which is separation at source. From this separation of materials, the next step will be to have a network of associated services that allow the highest degree of use, transformation or recyclability of the materials.

This action goes far beyond the typical containers for separating glass, paper and cardboard, plastics and aluminium, but should also include hazardous and/or kitchen waste such as compostable organic waste, and the removal and correct treatment of the so-called effluents.

Considerations

• Between 1990 and 2005, global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions generated by Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) deposited in landfills increased by approximately 12%.
• In Spain alone, MSW in landfills generates almost 10 million tonnes of CO2e, which is equivalent to the annual pollution of a car fleet of up to 3.51 million vehicles.