Clean Baltic Sea and circular economy
Our long-term goals in this priority area are to have 70% of waste recycled in the circular economy, to minimise the risks and hazards of marine pollution and to maintain biodiversity in coastal areas in the places where the Group operates. We monitor our progress using the indicators.
With every activity, we monitor our impact on the natural environment, for which we carry out pre-, during- and post-construction monitoring of the marine environment. The purpose of the monitoring is to assess the impact resulting from the port’s activities and the impact after filling and dredging on benthic fauna, flora, fish and coastal processes in the nearby area.
The harbours of Tallinna Sadam have adequate capacity to receive bilge water, oily sludge, sewage, garbage and scrubber waste from all ships calling at them. In recent years, the share of ship waste directed to recycling has remained between 43-53%. The volume of recycled waste is affected by the type of waste received. The share of landfilled waste is minimal and 98% of waste received was recycled. AS Green Marine, an associate of Port of Tallinn, deals with the handling of ship waste in ports.
Port of Tallinn contributes to ensuring the purity of the Baltic Sea by helping prevent the discharge of ship sewage into the sea. To that end, we have provided Old City Harbour with a sewage pipeline for cruise quays and all frequently used ferry quays and a micro-tunnel with a sewage reception capacity of 1,200 m3 per hour. Thanks to the onshore sewer system, cruise ships and ferries calling at Old City Harbour can dispose of unlimited amounts of sewage without any additional charge.
Because of the potential impacts of harbour operations, we monitor marine biodiversity. The longterm goal is that the number of benthic community species near Old City Harbour (Tallinn Bay) and Muuga Harbour should not differ from the average values for the reference site (Kakumäe Bay). According to the monitoring data of the last years, the condition of the sea near Muuga Harbour and Old City Harbour continues to be the same as at the reference station. We use metrics to monitor the fulfillment of marine biodiversity goals.