Towards a just and circular shipbreaking industry in South Asia
Prioritizing environmental justice and circular economy approaches for sustainable shipbreaking practices in South Asia.

Gaddani, Pakistan - August 21, 2018: Gaddani Ship Breaking Yard. Photo credit: Asim Ali
Images of hazardous shipbreaking practices from decades ago – displaying workers without any protective gear dismantling ships on the beaches of South Asia, exposing themselves and the surrounding environment to toxic fumes and waste – might lead one to assume that conditions would have improved. Unfortunately, the reality remains far more troubling.
In 2023, South Asia accounted for more than 85 per cent of the global ship recycling industry, with Bangladesh alone recycling more than 45 per cent of the world's ships by gross tonnage. With the global fleet capacity reaching 2.4 billion deadweight tonnes in 2024, and ships averaging a 22-year lifespan, the demand for ship recycling is set to surge. As the global fleet ages, the ship recycling industry stands at a crossroads. Embracing sustainable solutions will not only protect the environment and workers but also create a circular economy. It is an opportunity to transform a hazardous and polluting industry into a model of responsible resource management.
In Bangladesh, the shipbreaking industry meets 60 per cent of domestic steel needs, given the lack of domestic iron ore sources, while supporting substantial foreign currency reserves. The use of recycled steel offers a range of environmental benefits, including a direct reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Producing one metric tonne of recycled steel avoids 1.5 metric tonnes carbon dioxide compared to steel made from iron ore. By using recycled steel from shipbreaking in the construction sector, Bangladesh also avoids about 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Other environmental benefits include diverting waste from landfills, reducing ecological footprint through conservation of natural resources, and lowering the impact of mining as metric tonne of scrap used for steel production avoids the consumption of 1.4 metric tonnes of iron ore, 740 kilograms of coal, and 120 kilograms of limestone.
However, the shipbreaking industry is fundamentally a trade in toxic waste, fuelled by the externalization of costs. Ships from Europe and East Asia are often sent to South Asian beaches, where suitable geographical conditions allow for ‘beaching’ – the hazardous practice of dismantling vessels directly on the shoreline, circumventing the expense of proper industrial facilities. This toxic trade, enabled by cheap labour, and the lack of enforcement of labour safety and environmental regulation, disproportionately burdens marginalized local communities. In 2015, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned: ‘Shipbreaking has grown into a major occupational and environmental health problem in the world. It is amongst the most dangerous of occupations, with unacceptably high levels of fatalities, injuries, and work-related diseases.’
At the shipbreaking yards, workers – predominantly exploited migrants and children – face dire working conditions and human rights abuses. They work in hazardous environments with risks of occupational fires and falling steel plates, while being exposed to toxic substances like asbestos, mercury, and lead. These toxic materials have contaminated agricultural lands, beaches, and groundwater, posing long-term threats to surrounding ecosystems and communities. In Bangladesh, the uncontrolled release of harmful metals and metalloids from shipbreaking activities was the largest contributor to soil contamination, leading to high concentrations of cadmium, lead, and arsenic found in food crops. Estimates by Young Power in Social Action, a Bangladesh-based non-profit organization, indicate that nearly 60,000 mangrove trees have been cut along the 14-kilometre coastline near Chattogram in recent years to make way for more shipbreaking yards.
While existing international frameworks address various aspects of ship recycling, their implementation and effectiveness remain a challenge. The Basel Convention aims to control the cross-border movement of hazardous waste, such as end-of-life vessels, especially exports from OECD to non-OECD countries. A significant enforcement challenge lies in the convention’s definition of vessel status, as ships are only classified as hazardous waste when owners declare their intention for disposal. Often, ship owners navigate vessels to South Asian countries under the pretext of ‘operational voyage’, only announcing scrapping plans upon arrival, thereby circumventing the convention’s control measures. Moreover, definitional loopholes in the distinction between ‘waste’ and ‘non-waste’, and between ‘hazardous waste’ and ‘non-hazardous waste’ has allowed a wide range of hazardous waste to circumvent the convention’s stringent regulations; for instance, until May 2019, most plastic waste was not considered hazardous.
Another example of how the shipbreaking industry is exploiting regulatory gaps is the practice of ‘flags of convenience’. To circumvent UK and EU rules, which prohibit vessels under their flags from being recycled in South Asian shipbreaking yards due to poor health, safety and environmental records, ship owners often register their vessels in countries with lax regulations. This is evidenced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which indicates that more than 70 per cent of the world’s shipping capacity was registered under a foreign flag – in countries different from those where the beneficial owners of the ships are based. Consequently, nearly 40 per cent of all end-of-life ships beached in South Asia were imported under flags of convenience.
In the absence of comprehensive laws, policies, and financial regulations that extend beyond flag state jurisdiction, implementing the ‘polluter pays’ principle for ship owners remains a significant challenge. To address this, shipbreaking legislation should extend beyond flag registries to encompass the ‘beneficial ownership’ of vessels to ensure that the regulations apply to the owners of the ships, regardless of where the ship is registered. This aspect could potentially be incorporated into existing frameworks such as the Hong Kong Convention or the EU Ship Recycling Regulation.
The Hong Kong Convention, although not yet in force, provides a more comprehensive approach, requiring inventories of hazardous materials (IHMs), ship-specific recycling plans, prioritization of worker safety and environmental protection. The IHM provides information on the removal and treatment of hazardous wastes during ship recycling. To enable a circular economy for ships, a material passport that focuses on recovering and retaining components and materials to prevent them from entering the waste stream during a product’s life cycle is needed.
The ILO has developed guidelines on health and safety in shipbreaking, specifically targeting Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. It outlines standards for personal protective equipment, workers’ training, hazard awareness, and health services. Apart from international conventions and guidelines, South Asian countries have several pieces of legislation to protect the environment and human rights. However, the challenge lies in the weak enforcement of existing legislation, which needs to be addressed through a coalition of governments, civil society and the private sector. Its effective implementation will pave the way for developing an inclusive and just circular economy model.
This article was informed by a webinar hosted by Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre in March 2024 as part of their Environment and Society Discussion Series (ESDS). The session, "Exploring environmental injustice in South Asia's economic growth," brought together experts Ingvild Jennsen, Muhammad Shaheen Chowdhury, Prakash Kashwan, and Manisha Anantharaman.