The ultimate recycled resource

From Jules Verne trophies to solar-powered exploration, Matt Sheehan explores how the world’s toughest boats refuse to head for the scrap:

From crushing it to make garden furniture, to sending it through a complicated process to strip the resin from the fibre, or turning it into an energy source, there’s no shortage of ideas about what to do with your boat once you and everyone else who has owned it have finished with it.

In a world focused on sustainability, the marine world has been considering for some time how to squeeze the most out of the planet’s resources.

There are plenty of good examples, not least by the French who have established a mandatory recycling system. Manufacturers pay a levy on new boats and annual taxes fund the Association pour la Plaisance Eco-Responsable to dismantle them. Boats from 2.5-24m are taken to one of the 37 authorized centers across France. For boat owners the service is free. – Full report