Use of waste incinerators on board ships in Canadian waters

Various waste streams are generated onboard ships, like oily residues, sewage, food wastes and cargo residues. These waste streams can be managed in different ways. For some waste streams, the use of onboard incineration is an option. Incineration can significantly reduce the space required to store waste on board a ship.

However, incinerator flue gas may contain various substances/compounds/gases, like for example SO2, PAHs and heavy metals, depending on the waste that is being incinerated. Some of these exhaust gases can be hazardous and/or toxic to the environment and human health.

In this context, this study:

• conducted an overview of the current international regulations for incineration of ship waste on board ships as well as an overview of precedents anywhere in the world for restricting the use of shipboard incinerators;
• conducted research on the different types of shipboard incinerators and their current use in practice;
• investigated the availability of emission factors for shipboard incinerators.

This study is conducted at request of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

The report was slightly amended in October 2025. This concerns the following:

• Page 14: “Sludge waste may be introduced to the incinerator during the warm-up process at combustion chamber temperatures above 650 °C in order to achieve the normal operation combustion chamber temperature of 850 °C (MEPC.1/Circ.795)”. The previous report stated 500 °C instead of 650 °C.
• Table 11 on page 31 and page 32:
  o We corrected certain units.
  o We deleted the row about particulate matter/TSP due to lack of clarity and alignment in the definitions in the used sources.
  o We deleted a few rows for which data from only one source was available.
  – Despite the changes made to the report, the conclusions remain unchanged.