183 For all those involved in passenger ship interiors, there are currently many opportunities to embed sustainability wins in their activities. Higher levels of public awareness of green issues and a growing focus on enhanced regulatory oversight to reduce environmental harm, make it essential that organisations position themselves to play more responsible roles while supporting others in the industry to do the same. Steps to take right now While there needs to be more discussion and education within the industry about sustainability, there is no benefit in putting off taking feasible actions now. All stakeholders should be prioritising sustainability in projects they become involved with while also stressing its importance to their supply chain partners, pushing for alternative specifications and making an effort to integrate these into real projects. The message should be that everyone needs to become equipped to make a responsible choice in order to ensure sustainable products and project outcomes. An easy implementation win for sustainable refurbishments may be conducting an inventory of existing materials and assemblies and determining what is to be repurposed, reused, recycled or refurbished. Focusing on waste segregation on site and improving planning processes to combine loads going on and off site can also yield quick rewards. Actions those choosing designs can take include selecting high quality materials with a long life and getting the support of owners to that end, along with persuading yards to segregate waste and maintain warehouses of materials that have come off ships and can be used on other projects. Although there is a lot of recycling that can be done at the shipyard, there is always more that can be done. Through multiple small changes, the balance can start to shift towards normalising greener options. Some easy sustainability wins that leverage technology seem almost too simple – for example, installing sensors that close the curtains when the passengers aren’t present in their cabins to allow operators to make energy savings. – “It seems that the sustainability theme is now becoming more than just an empty word or a marketing idea. We all have to change our minds and behaviour to achieve meaningful input. Even if our contribution as interior designers – seen globally – is rather small, our many small steps will help” Making progress with easy wins and giant steps
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