Beneficial re-use of dredged material

Marine ports handle vast volumes of dredged sediment, whether resulting from capital or maintenance dredging or reclaiming new land. This represents a significant and frequent cost to maintaining port operations, as well as environmental considerations. Strategic sediment management is crucial for maintaining port functionality and supporting expansion efforts.

Often, dredged sediment is discarded in marine landfills on land or offshore, a practice that can increase GHG emissions and disrupt local ecosystems. However, sediment holds significant environmental, economic, and social value.

Solanki et al. (2023) in their review of beneficial re-use practices, identified a variety of uses, including for concrete Materials (Sand Substitute, Cement Substitute), Construction Products (Composite Material, Green Infrastructure Material), Roadway Construction (Fill Material, Stabilized Soil Subgrade), Habitat Building, Landfill Liner or Cap, Agriculture: Soil Reconstruction/Remediation, Beach Nourishment, Embankment Fill.

Often, dredged sediment is discarded in marine landfills on land or offshore, a practice that can increase GHG emissions and disrupt local ecosystems. However, sediment holds significant environmental, economic, and social value.

Utilizing dredged sediment within or near the port area can help minimize disposal distances, reducing dredging vessel travel times and the associated emissions.

Nevertheless, there is an outdated perception that this type of practice has an apparent weakness of not being sustainable and safe for local environments.

Singapore provides a Southeast Asian example of reusing material in reclamation: for Tuas Port Phase 1, MPA reports that more than half of the fill was recycled material (MPA, 2023). This Phase 1 figure should not be extended to the whole port or to other Singapore reclamation projects.

The regulatory landscape for dredged material is typically wrapped up in reactive, project specific assessment of environmental impact. However, examples of broader policy targets exist, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)⁠ (opens in new tab) goal to beneficially use at least 70% of its dredged material by 2030 (USACE, 2023). This is an agency goal, not an obligation on ports.

Examples of reuse are varied and include beach nourishment, wetland creation, barriers (beaches, dune, wetlands), building material and reclamation. World Bank (2025) categorized beneficial re-use of dredged material within NbS into three areas:

• Restoration and Creation of Habitats- Looking at large projects like the Marker Wadden in the Netherlands, this measure can become very expensive. However, such measures can easily take place at a smaller scale as well. In general, habitats require much lower technical demands than terminal areas or flood protections, for example.
• Land and Foreshore Reclamation - Many ports around the world have already used this type of NBS. Landscape design with dredging material can have various livelihood opportunities. As the dredger and disposal location are already required for the dredging of a channel, for example, the main costs of this measure are mainly due to the drainage and ground improvement of the new land, reclaimed from dredged material.
• Construction Material - Measures like clay ripening, piloted with sediment from the Eems-Dollard estuary and the port canal of Delfzijl in the north of the Netherlands, mainly require a lot of space and effort. However, the new construction material can be resold for other purposes helping to offset the upfront costs.

Solanki et al. (2023) in their review of beneficial re-use practices in the US, identified the following uses:

• Concrete Materials (Sand Substitute, Cement Substitute)
• Construction Products (Composite Material, Green Infrastructure Material)
• Roadway Construction (Fill Material, Stabilized Soil Subgrade)
• Habitat Building
• Landfill Liner or Cap
• Agriculture: Soil Reconstruction/Remediation
• Beach Nourishment
• Embankment Fill

To arrive at environmental enhancement through the use of dredged material, an understanding of the natural system is crucial. This will allow for an assessment of both the potential environmental benefits and risks. Environmental and social benefits should be included in a cost-benefit analysis.