At the awards ceremony for the Young Reporters for the Environment competition (2025–2026 edition), Marion Lescuyer, a first-year master’s student in journalism at the Aix-Marseille School of Journalism and Communication, won third prize in the 19–25-year-old journalists category.
Her report raises a question that few of us have ever considered: what happens to the thousands of recreational boats that are taken out of service each year?
Long abandoned in ports, stranded on coastlines, or sunk offshore, these end-of-life vessels represent a growing and largely underestimated environmental challenge.
Through an exploration of France’s building demolition sector, led by the Association for Eco-Responsible Boating (APER), the report follows, step by step, the process of handling these boats: from removing them from the water to recycling complex materials such as composites, the processing of which poses considerable technical challenges.
But beyond the boating sector, a more fundamental question runs through this work: that of manufacturers’ responsibility for the waste generated throughout the life cycle of their products. While the French industry is now establishing itself as one of the most advanced in the world, this report invites us to rethink the role of the circular economy in the design of tomorrow’s products.
