Recycled Shipwrecks

FRANCE—Hundreds of pleasure boats reach the end of their life each year all along the shorelines of France. According to the database made available by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy (SHOM), the French public operator for statistics and figures for maritime and coastal geography, more than 4,700 boat wrecks rest on the seabed off the French coast, including 4,200 near the metropolitan shoreline.     Faced with this observation, Association pour la Plaisance Eco-Responsible (APER, known as the Association for Eco-Responsible Pleasure in English) has given itself the task of recovering end-of-life boats and recycling them. Wrecks and battered ship frames on the shores are no longer inevitable. So, since 2019, APER has dedicated itself to recycling boats. Initially created by the Federation of Nautical Industries (FIN) in 2009, the association mainly had an information role.   Many eco-organizations have surfaced, making it possible to organize the prevention and management of specific waste such as batteries and accumulators, paper, and electronic equipment.   Eighty percent of pleasure crafts were built before the 2000s, with an average lifespan of 30 to 40 years. The boats that qualify for recycling are pleasure boats from 8 to 75 feet registered in France. The owner can then contact...