ReDesign, ReFit, RePair, ReUse, ReCycle, ReThink the Cabin – Sustainable ship cabins for a circular economy in shipbuildingResearch project ReCab

Credit: BMWE

Cruise ship construction serves a globally flourishing sector of the tourism industry. Despite numerous new developments in many industries, aspects of sustainable product design, for example, for passenger cabins, play a negligible role. This sector in particular, due to the high product diversity and corresponding quantity, offers a great opportunity to introduce and consolidate the circular economy in the maritime sector. The ReCab research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, therefore focuses on innovative concepts for sustainable passenger cabins, whose structure creates the technical basis for future reuse.

A fundamentally new concept for the cabin's structural design and its integration into the ship opens up new possibilities for the continued autonomous use of the entire cabin and also creates great potential in the construction process. The supply systems and the associated automation and control systems are being developed to be energy-efficient and form decentralized units.
The feasibility of the concepts and the dismantling of the circular cabin will be demonstrated using demonstrators
be detected and tested.

This also includes the selection of recyclable materials and a disassembly-friendly design, which allows non-destructive disassembly of complete cabins and cabin components as well as the pure separation and reuse of the materials.

For this purpose, concepts for the selection and evaluation of materials, components, and systems, as well as reuse and recycling scenarios, are being developed. The data and usage requirements necessary for the assessment for the entire life cycle of ships are being identified, and a solution is being developed.

For GSR, the focus is on data collection, maintenance and use for the calculation of ecological and economic key figures for ships as well as the provision of relevant information for the derivation of occupational health, safety and environmental protection measures as well as the return of resources through transparent recycling.

In addition, GSR is working on the requirements for appropriately adapted recycling processes.

By combining ecological, social, economic and material sustainability, the project participants aim to make an important contribution to the development of more sustainable shipping.