Ship blasting waste and site contamination at Bijela shipyard
Ship blasting waste and site contamination at Bijela shipyard. This shipyard is located at the Boka Bay and has an estimated volume of 60,000 tons of contaminated blasting grid stored in big bags. Blasting grid is used for ship paint stripping and cleaning and the historic volumes of blasting grid containing heavy metals should be considered as hazardous waste. Due to reduction of heavy metals in ship paints, the more recently produced blasting grid is not considered as hazardous waste anymore. The earlier bulk storage of this material has caused soil pollution in an area of around 1.5 ha and it is expected that excavation works necessary for the redevelopment of the site will generate an estimated volume of 40,000 tons of contaminated soil and 7,200 tons of contaminated sediments. Remediation consists of the removal of the contaminated blasting grit (hazardous waste) and the volumes of excavated contaminated soil from the site to meet redevelopment standards. The contaminated soil volumes are classified as non-hazardous waste and qualify for disposal within Montenegro in one of the municipal waste landfills in the country that meets the standards of the national waste law and the EU Landfill Directive. The large volume of blasting grit is expected to be exported in compliance with the Basel Convention.