News Update/ Press Release
World Earth Day 2021: Norwegian Cruise Line Highlights its Waste Mitigation Practices
Mumbai: April 22, 2021– Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)’s commitment to protect and preserve the oceans and the environment is at the very core of the company’s everyday business operations.As leaders in the cruise industry, NCL works towards mitigating actions that negatively impact our planet. To reduce the impact on the environment, NCL has introduced several initiatives aimed at lowering energy consumption, and therefore reducing their carbon footprint. On World Earth Day, NCL takes us through their several initiatives for waste mitigation.
Under its Sail and Sustain Stewardship Program, the Company has been working tirelessly to launch and improve upon several innovative initiatives to minimize waste to landfills, reduce the CO2 emissions rate, increase sustainable sourcing and invest in emerging technologies.
Environmental protection is an essential part of NCL’s mission and culture, as the company understands that the future of the cruise industry is closely intertwined with the health of our oceans and the destinations.
In 2019, NCL became the first major global cruise company to eliminate single-use plastic beverage bottles across its fleet of 17 ships as well as its private destinations, saving over six million plastic water bottles every year.
NCL enforces a zero-tolerance policy for any items thrown overboard. If an environmental incident is observed, guests, crew and shoreside employees are encouraged to use the company’s environmental hotline to report them.
At NCL, reducing onboard waste of any kind is achieved through innovative technologies, staff training and implementing stringent recycling programs.
One of the most successful programs implemented aboard NCL’s ships is Waste Heat Recovery (WHR). This process works by recovering heat from the engines and transferring it to freshwater piping — allowing us to utilize a free source of energy for improving water production and saving fuel.
NCL’s progressive waste mitigation program lessens the environmental impact of the operations, reduces pollution, promotes diversion of material from landfills, conserves natural resources and saves energy. The waste is reduced through reusing and recycling, with clear benchmarks serving as the measurement.
A rigorous recycling program ensures that NCL ships take advantage of every opportunity to recycle and reduce waste to landfill. In 2019, vessels who offloaded with Waste Management® in Florida were able to recycle over 2,300 tons of aluminium, cardboard/paper, scrap metals, plastics, wood pallets, and glass. These recycling efforts conserved the following resources-Mature trees, Landfill Airspace, Water,Electricity and GHG emissions