Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard introduce new sustainable shipyard initiatives

The award-winning Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard (GCCM) has introduced sustainable shipyard initiatives after partnering with the Centre for a Waste Free World at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

GCCM have introduced their ‘Closing the Loop’ project, established in July 2021, which will lead to the establishment of a circular economy within the Gold Coast based shipyard. GCCM will be reducing the total waste produced at the shipyard, creating a sustainable approach to the issues surrounding environmentalism and the marine industry.

Luke McCaul, customer experience manager at Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard, commented, “GCCM have always led the way in sustainable shipyard initiatives like solar and water harvesting. We also partnered with the Seabin Project meaning we have one of the first Seabins in our marina. We are very proud of our current accreditations through the Marina Industries Associations.”

These accreditations include Level 3 Clean Marina, Fish Friendly Marina, and the globally recognised 5 Gold Anchor accreditation, in which environmental practices account for almost 15% of the total score.

Solar Panels at GCCM.

The first three months of the project were spent deliberating, researching, and appraising waste streams onsite. The first workshop was held in August 2021 and saw key stakeholders at the shipyard, environmental industry leaders, representatives from local and state government and QUT researchers all gather to discuss the issues they may have with their current waste streams in hopes of finding a solution.

With the data and information gathered at the workshop, QUT then established a report based on the materials discussed and developed several different options to address each challenge. Currently GCCM is stepping into the second phase of the project, focusing on implementation and promotion. With the support of the City of Gold Coast, GCCM established a presence on the ASPIRE platform where they have begun to trade and sell materials.

The project was most recently put to the test after an end-of-life vessel came to GCCM to be deconstructed and disposed of. Sweep Marine Services deconstructed the vessel and diverted roughly 50-per-cent of the materials from general waste into timber recycling, scrap metal & e-waste receptacles. By saving on carbon emissions, the waste material from this project was found to equal 81.1 acres of forests saved, according to the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA).

Rod Packer, manager of strategy and innovation in water and waste at GCCM, stated, “It takes like-minds and it’s really great to see the participation of all the local businesses here that are starting to truly understand that what they refer to as waste is valuable and the resources are probably just in the wrong location right now. Education is going to be key to getting the fundamental and structural change in the thinking in this organisation with regards to what can happen.”

For more information, visit Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard. For more news and yachting tips, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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