Clean Harbors
Clean Harbors is a European certification introduced in 2011, a sign of environmental excellence in terms of environmental management of marinas.
It reflects a strong desire on the part of marina managers to make concrete commitments to fight for the preservation of aquatic environments and the sustainable development of coastal and marine activities.
The 5-step Clean Harbors approach, prior to obtaining certification, is THE solution to ensure an adapted management based on methods and tools that respond to environmental issues. It allows marina managers to control chronic and accidental pollution and toxic waste from port activities, in accordance with the regulations in force. A section is also dedicated to water and energy savings.
In order for their commitments to be recognized, marinas that have gone through the entire Clean Harbors process have their practices monitored by an independent third-party organization, such as AFNOR Certificationaccording to a reference system of 17 criteria established at European level by theCWA 16987 agreementEuropean Clean Harbors Certification (Clean Harbours Guidelines): this guarantees a total independence of decision and a true objective value of the attribution of the certification.
Anse de la Réserve marina has made this a priority since its operator’s change in 2018. An initial audit conducted in 2019 identified the marina’s strengths and weaknesses in order to establish a roadmap. This was followed by improvement actions carried out by the marina’s teams accompanied by the Var’s Chamber of Commerce, in consultation with boaters and occupants, associations and restaurants, who together developed and improved all the areas related to this certification, namely :
- Waste management
- Treatment of careening water
- Pollution management
- Collection of wastewater and bilge water from ships
- Energy saving
- Water resources management
- Training of port personnel
- Boaters’ awareness raising
The certification audit, conducted by the independent firm AFNOR, took place on October 20, 2022 at the marina in order to verify its compliance with and proper implementation of all the criteria of the approach.
Anse de la Réserve officially received the result of its work last December 15, by being awarded byt the European “Clean Harbors” certification for 3 years, in the presence of AFNOR and the Union of Ports de Plaisance PACA (marinas’ union of PACA region), bearer of this approach.
