June 30th of this year marked the main conclusions of the Sustainable Cruise Project, co-financed by the European Commission under the LIFE+ program. The initial phase of this pilot project began in September 2011 with the aim of examining and evaluating innovative models and techniques for onboard waste management that were in line with the European Waste Directive, whose key concepts are the well-known 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The Costa Pacifica, a ship in the Costa Crociere fleet, was selected to carry out the pilot tests for this Sustainable Cruise Project.
This is an experimental project through which, for the first time, the cruise industry has applied the principle that waste is a resource and should be treated as such on board as well.
Costa Crociere led the project, having designed and submitted the initiative to the European Union in collaboration with the Academic Research Center for Sustainable Product Development (Ce.Si.SP – Centro interuniversitario per lo Sviluppo della Sostenibilità dei Prodotti) and the Italian companies VOMM, Contento Trade, and Design Innovation, as well as RINA Services and MedCruise, the Mediterranean Cruise Ports Association. The European Union funded 50% of the project's cost, which totaled €2.7 million.
Many of the most relevant results were achieved during the three years of the project, in which the work focused on three types of waste: packaging, paper and biodegradable waste, as well as on the creation of a network of ports that would promote cooperation in the field of waste management, whose ultimate goal is to achieve a substantial reduction of the environmental impact generated by onboard waste.
An innovative experiment was the installation on board the Costa Pacifica of a turbo-dryer for treating biodegradable food waste. Through this dryer, the bio-waste is heated and treated in two separate phases: first cooking, then drying. This substantially reduces the volume of waste generated and yields a final product that retains all the protein and nutritional value of the original product, meaning it can be recycled and sold as raw material for animal feed.
Laboratory tests have shown that the oil and fats derived from this processing of bio-waste (approximately 1.9% of the total) form a raw material, rich in beneficial properties and, therefore, potentially reusable as an energy source in the form of biofuel.
Regarding packaging, the main results were achieved by replacing glass mineral water bottles (which previously accounted for approximately 50% of the glass on board) with recyclable PET plastic bottles. More than 11,900 glass bottles per cruise were replaced with environmentally friendly PET plastic bottles, saving a total of 7,300 kg of glass (average difference when comparing consumption between 2011 and 2014). In terms of the potential contribution to global warming, compared to a product that requires high energy intensity, such as glass, this equates to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, or a reduction of approximately 120 grams of CO2per passenger per day, equivalent to 342 kg of CO2per cruise day.
Similarly, replacing plastic yogurt jars with 1-liter Tetra Pak containers meant reducing 6,500 yogurt jars with 33kg less plastic shipped (average difference between 2011 and 2014).
The success of these sustainable waste management actions tested on the Costa Pacifica has led the company to introduce them across the entire Costa Cruises fleet.
Equally successful was the part of the project dedicated to reducing paper waste: more than 1,400 passengers were involved in the project activities designed to raise awareness of ways to use paper responsibly (such as the Creative Labs or the Sustainable Competition), while more than 18,000 Costa employees took part in an awareness campaign about the need to reduce paper use.
In turn, the volume of paper waste was reduced by introducing digital versions to disseminate information that was previously distributed in printed form on board. For example, this pilot program on board the Costa Pacifica reduced the size of the Todayguide, which provides details about events and activities on board, by 50%.
The results of the Sustainable Cruise experiment are even more interesting when considering the possibilities opened up by the turbo-dryer. In this regard, laboratory studies have shown that the prototype dryer can be used on board to recycle PET plastic, converting it into PET granules ready for new life cycles as plastic material, with a reduction of over 60% in greenhouse gas emissions. It can also be used to recycle paper, producing semi-processed hygiene products suitable for use in paper mills for recycling, or as additives or biomass.
Thanks to this project it has also been possible to evaluate the application of national and European requirements in the field of on-board waste management and to identify areas for improvement that need to be made in order to optimize sustainability in the industry: in particular, current Italian regulations on waste discharged on land do not allow the material produced by the turbo-dryer to be classified as “secondary raw material”, although, according to its properties, this material can be used without problems in subsequent processes.
Once unloaded, the product treated and processed on board is considered, for all purposes and ends, as waste and, as such, cannot be managed by Costa Cruises or marketed.
This has been an important contribution because, as highlighted by the National Contact Persons for the LIFE+ program at the Ministry of the Environment, it provides guidance on how to lobby legislators to adapt the law and make it both possible and economically viable to treat onboard waste so that it can be reused and/or recycled once it has been unloaded on land. In this regard, the Sustainable Cruise Project represents a case study and a model for the industry as a whole.
Finally, and equally important, it should be noted that the onboard project work was complemented by efforts to improve waste management and treatment services available at port reception facilities. Fifty-two Mediterranean ports were surveyed and studied regarding their waste processing facilities. As a result, a dedicated web platform was created, which will be updated twice a year. Some of these ports will participate in a pilot program offering state-of-the-art waste management services to a Costa Cruises ship during its cruise program next season.
