XN000022-1996-11-08 — Page 23

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Recovery rate for treating MARPOL waste to increase

Fees charged by the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre (CWTC) for receiving and treating wastes containing oil or noxious substances discharged from ships (known as MARPOL waste) will be increased.

A Government spokesman today (Friday) said that when the CWTC opened in April 1993, a free service was initially provided to encourage ship operators to dispose of their wastes properly. In accordance with the polluter pays principle, a charging scheme was introduced from 1 August 1995 to recover some of the cost of providing the service.

The initial charges were set to recover the full administrative costs and approximately 20 per cent of the variable operating cost (VOC) of the CWTC.

The VOC recovery rate will be increased from 20 to 25 per cent from 20 December 1996. This is in line with the new charges for the disposal of land-based chemical waste at the CWTC, made effective since June this year.

"Ship owners will still only pay a fraction of the cost of treating their waste. The Government will continue to bear about 75 per cent of the VOC, as well as the full fixed operating cost and capital cost of constructing the CWTC," the spokesman said.

The revised charges are set out in the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution)(Charges of Discharge of Polluting Waste)(Amendment) Regulation 1996 published in the gazette today (Friday).

Under the MARPOL Convention for the prevention of pollution from ships, ship operators are restricted from discharging MARPOL wastes into the sea.

At the same time, Governments are required to ensure that adequate reception facilities are available for the disposal of such wastes.

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