Experimental campaign for recycling boats continues in south-western Finland until the end of August

Finnboat, the umbrella organisation of the Finnish marine industry and trade, together with recycling specialist Kuusakoski Oy initiated an experimental recycling campaign for boats at the beginning of June this year.

The background framework for the boat recycling campaign is EU legislation that defines the obligations producers have in the disposal of various discarded products, i.e. so-called producer responsibility. Producers - i.e. manufacturers and vendors - are responsible for the recycling of their products and components, materials re-utilisation and for organising waste management. With respect to boats there is no such legislation yet.

The boats collected from the Turku archipelago region are to be transported to Kuusakoski Oy's Heinola recycling plant where they will be crushed. How the various materials and components can be separated from each other will thereafter be determined. On the basis of a research report, due for completion in the spring of 2006, recycling possibilities for crushed materials can be ascertained, the commercial boundary conditions for boat recycling defined, and the potential for countrywide expansion of the operation examined.

Fibreglass boats have been manufactured in Finland since the beginning of the 1960s. Based on the latest research, Finland's current boat stock comprises some 737,000 boats. An operational organisation for the recycling or disposal of boats does not currently exist.

For further information, please contact:

Project Manager Jaakko Sederholm, Kuusakoski Oy, tel. +358 (0)40 501 4836
Managing Director Jouko Huju, Finnish Marine Industries Federation Finnboat,
tel. +358 (0)40 550 9310

Finnish Marine Industries Federation Finnboat is the umbrella organisation for Finland's boating industry and trade. The 225 member enterprises of Finnboat, representing a combined turnover of some EUR 450 million, account for almost one hundred percent of both the marine industry's domestic net sales and the nation's boat exports. www.finnboat.fi

Kuusakoski Oy Ltd is the leading specialist in providing recycling services in the Baltic region and one of the world's largest processors and suppliers of recycled metals. The company's main market areas are Europe, Asia and North America. In addition to recycling activities, Kuusakoski develops and manufactures high quality recycling- and environmental technology solutions for various recycled materials. Total Group turnover for 2004 was EUR 809 million. The Kuusakoski Group Oy employs more than 3200 persons. Kuusakoski was established in 1914. www.kuusakoski.fi

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