A workshop on „Shipping Wastes in the Danube River" has recently been held at Harbour Enns, Austria, with a view to clarifying the policy options and reaching a harmonized procedure for handling shipping wastes. The workshop was attended by representatives of the Danube Commission, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River and the Austrian Ministry of Transport. Also participating were experts from the Danube countries, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Various countries presented the modalities to collect bilge water and wastes, with particular attention to the modalities to cover the incurred costs by the ship owners or harbour companies. In future, the "polluter pays" principle should be applied, as intended, for example, in the Rhine River Basin by levying an additional charge on the fuel bought by ship owners.
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| In future polluters should take the responsibility. |
The participation of the ICPDR representatives at the workshop and their contribution were highly appreciated. The Austrian Ministry of Transport will take the lead in organizing the first steps towards establishing a more effective and harmonized system (Germany, Austria, Slovak Republic, Hungary) of waste reception and treatment at the Danube River.
At the same time, further research actions and their funding by EU, Denmark and the Netherlands should be initiated.