122 Reaching out to industry experts and recognised organisations to consider sustainable design features is also important, allowing owners and operators to investigate potential products and materials, and work closely with architects and suppliers to identify opportunities. Owners and operators can help advance the green performance of maritime interiors by prioritising partners that meet key sustainability requirements. By leveraging the scale of their buying power, they can also influence vendors to focus on sustainable products. Shipyards Shipyards are tasked with purchasing based on what has been specified by and contracted with the owners but their role is by no means a passive one when it comes to sustainability, especially if they invest in research and technological development of greener solutions. Yards are also ideally placed to develop the R&D process on sustainability regarding methods of construction, waste management and replacement of non-sustainable products. They can bring their practical experience to bear with regard to materials and although this can sometimes manifest in a conservative approach to new materials, this does not mean that they are not motivated to build sustainably. There is enormous potential for shipyards to become leaders in sustainable material selection, construction techniques and equipment processes. On the one hand, the owners hold the reins; on the other hand, once contracts are signed, the yards have great influence on final decisions as regards procuring products. Shipyards can leverage this advantage for the sustainability of their operations by ensuring that manufacturing, installation and disposal services are carried out making the best use of resources. When avoidance of waste, pollution and other negative impacts is not possible, mitigation and compensation should be implemented. In the automobile and aviation sectors, some companies have established precedents for sharing excess materials. Shipyards have the potential to do something similar, for example by building recycling facilities and by working with local authorities to reuse donated products coming off ships. They can also enable unused materials from one project to be deployed in others or set up appropriate facilities to sort waste by type. For items that cannot be reused, having facilities to separate and compact these can reduce the space needed in transporting them to their final destination (and thus cut the carbon costs of this transport). This can also help the yards get closer to their own zero-waste targets. ADDRESS ING INDUSTRY I SSUES – “Shipyards, as the main power in the creation of ships, can promote the idea of sustainability to their client. The building of ships is a cooperation between the two and together, they are able to force change”
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