An article in the Wall Street Journal (June 13,2013) describes a move to ban the beaching of old ships (flying European flags), a method used in India and Bangladesh to recycle old ships. Instead, recycling will require use of dry docks, increasing costs and destroying the business in Bangladesh and India. Though waters become toxic with beaching, recycling in South Asia recovers ship contents and the steel, thus pays the shipowner more than dry docks, while recycling more of the ship’s content. The livelihood of over a million workers is also at stake. Should beaching be banned by the EU given its collateral effects? Should the fraction of recycled content be included in the determination of the impact of ship recycling method used ? Or will ship owners change from the European flag on old ships to skip the ban ?