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@article{193468,
        author = {Mustafa Jamal Nasser},
        title = {Green Transformation of Ship Recycling in Bangladesh: Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) and ISO 30000},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {10},
        pages = {885-900},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=193468},
        abstract = {Ship recycling is a critical end-of-life process in the international maritime industry and a key element of the circular economy, helping recover steel, machinery, and other reusable materials from decommissioned vessels. Although ship recycling offers material utilization and economic benefits, it has historically been associated with major environmental pollution, occupational hazards, and governance challenges, especially in South Asia. Bangladesh has become the world’s leading ship recycling nation by volume; however, its continued reliance on beaching-based dismantling methods has drawn persistent international scrutiny.
The entry into force of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) on 26 June 2025 represents a major regulatory shift, converting environmentally sound ship recycling from a voluntary initiative to a binding international obligation. Concurrently, ISO 30000 provides a management system framework that translates regulatory requirements into facility-level practices. This study thoroughly analyzes Bangladesh’s transition toward green ship recycling by evaluating the alignment of national law, institutional governance, and yard-level operational practices with the HKC and ISO 30000.
Employing a qualitative, multi-source research design that integrates legal analysis, institutional review, and practice-based compliance indicators, this study appraises convergence, implementation gaps, and organizational constraints. The findings show that Bangladesh has achieved measurable progress in upgrading physical infrastructure, improving safety procedures, and increasing the uptake of certification among export-oriented yards. Nevertheless, systemic difficulties remain, particularly about enforcement credibility, inter-agency coordination, downstream hazardous waste governance, and data transparency. The analysis contends that infrastructure-led compliance, in the absence of adequate governance capacity, risks resulting in fragmented and inconsistent outcomes.
The paper concludes that sustained HKC compliance in Bangladesh will require mandatory integration of management systems, enhanced enforcement, expanded national hazardous-waste treatment capacity, and digitalized compliance monitoring. These reforms are essential not only to achieve regulatory conformity but also to establish ship recycling as a central pillar of Bangladesh’s Blue Economy strategy and to advance SDG 14 on marine environmental protection.},
        keywords = {Ship Recycling; Hong Kong Convention; ISO 30000; Bangladesh; Environmental Governance; Blue Economy; SDG 14},
        month = {March},
        }