The problem with old plastic boats. And what to do about it. Clean Ocean Sailing joins us to explain
21 February 2025 · 6 min · 55K views · Helford estuary, Cornwall
What this video covers
Abandoned and wrecked fibreglass boats leach engine oils, paint chemicals, and resins into the marine environment, then break down into microplastics that have been identified in plankton under microscopy. Steve from Clean Ocean Sailing, based on the Cornish coast, describes the disposal economics driving the problem: in the UK there is no subsidised scrappage scheme for glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) boats, and owners must pay £500 per tonne to dispose of them legally. A recently recovered Hurley Burley, abandoned for at least 20 years in the Helford estuary, illustrates the scale of degradation — its keels ground away by tidal action, the hull filled with mud. Steve's team uses a winch-equipped van named Cecil to haul wrecks onto trailers, cleans them on site, and transports them to a recycling centre in Truro. He contrasts the UK situation with France and most of Europe, where a manufacturer tax and lifetime registration fee fund a scrappage pot. Clean Ocean Sailing crowdfunds disposal costs and runs wreckfree.org, where members of the public can report abandoned boats by photo and location. The practical lesson: without a producer-responsibility or registration-fee framework, disposal costs fall on volunteers, and abandoned GRP boats become a permanent microplastic source.
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