Sept 18, 2016

Profiting from circular thinking

The much anticipated conference Sustainability In the Marine Industry will explore recycling, life cycle assessment and how the supply chain, including designers, boatbuilders and manufacturers, can profitably adopt the circular economy. To be held at RAI Amsterdam on Monday 14 November – the day before the METSTRADE Show begins – Organisers of Sustainability in the Marine Industry (SIMI16) have added several high profile speakers to the programme.

Paolo Bertetti, Operations Director for SANLORENZO, will share his company’s views and plans for ‘cradle to grave’ construction and usage of yachts. Whilst Dr Jaap van der Woude, Sustainability Committee Chairman of European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA), will give an overview on progress in the recycling of composites, and the methodology of life cycle assessment.

Jouko Huju CEO of Finnboat and Neil Chapman CEO of Boatshed.com, will give their views on ‘user demographics’, providing data and insights into the changes in ownership habits and usage of leisure yachts – and how this plays into the sustainability discussion for the future of our industry.

As already announced, Susie Tomson, Sustainability Manager for the Land Rover / BAR America’s Cup race team, will share her findings on the work they have done and are continuing to do in life cycle assessment and composite recycling at the team’s UK Portsmouth base. In addition, the BLUE Marine Foundation will present details of their ocean conservation/marine reserve projects around the world.

“Developed by the same team that brought us last year’s ground-breaking conference, ‘The Future of Yacht Recycling’, SIMI16 pushes the concept one step further by looking at the problems associated with recycling and how life cycle assessment is relevant in minimising issues surrounding end-of-life-boats” explains Udo Kleinitz, Secretary General of ICOMIA and SIMI16 chairman. “To further expand on the problems with a linear ‘take-make-dispose’ approach, which results in massive waste, SIMI16 will present a new business model – the ‘circular economy’ – and showcase how it can be applied, profitably, to the marine industry”.

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