The Recovery of Materials and Management at the End of Life of Ships. Models and Strategies for a Critical Raw Materials Circular Market in Europe

The recovery of end-of-life ship components and materials requires a complete demolition process as well as the realization processes of reuse that can guarantee the circularity of raw materials from the perspective of economic and environmental sustainability. Since the introduction of the Ship Recycling Regulation, the European Union legislative framework has moved toward opening green markets related to the dismantling of ships. The objective is to value the critical materials and to change the design techniques in shipbuilding aiming at the total recyclability of ships. The rationale of the research is to develop a systemic model of the market for the circularity of materials from the recovery of medium-large ships. The objective of the study focuses on the potential valorization of the members and the materials of the ships in light of the tightening European legislation. The results take interesting considerations, especially for what concerns recognize opportunities for green business and markets in the field of ship recycling.