Officials make unanimous decision to outlaw common maritime practice: ‘Not an acceptable trade-off’

The health of oceans is looking bright thanks to a new ban by EU environmental ministers and 15 European countries that are on board.

At a Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) meeting in late June, these officials agreed to ban scrubber discharge — the polluting substance produced by exhaust gas cleaning systems that end up in the ocean.

According to an article by Safety4Sea, by 2027, discharge from open-loop scrubbers will be banned across the North-East Atlantic, and by 2029, closed-loop scrubber discharge will be banned as well.

A scrubber system is “an exhaust gas cleaning system that removes particulate matter and harmful substances, such as sulfur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), from exhaust gas streams emitted by ships,” per LiqTech. While the system’s goal is to remove substances from the air, they often end up in the ocean instead through the scrubber discharge.

“Turning air pollution into ocean pollution is not an acceptable trade-off,” said Maarten Verdaasdonk, the Project Manager for the North Sea Foundation, according to Safety4Sea.

While the ban is overall great news for ocean cleanliness, Verdaasdonk and others were critical of the new rules for not covering the full extent of ocean protection, as they do not ban scrubber discharge in territorial areas.

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“It is vital that all OSPAR Members support the proposal to extend the ban to territorial waters, especially as cleaner, widely available alternatives exist,” Verdaasdonk continued. “Such a ban will improve water quality and protect marine life in the coastal areas of the entire North-East Atlantic,” per Safety4Sea.

Other ocean-friendly initiatives include a similar ban on scrubber discharge by Sweden, which went into effect this year. Likewise, a shipping company in London is integrating modern sails into some of its ships in an effort to massively reduce the use of dirty fuels.

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