The river Danube is a unique ecosystem with a high biodiversity, an important water reservoir and an international waterway with high potential for inland navigation being promoted by the EUs transport policy (NAIADES). The transport volumes in the Danube Corridor are expected to increase significantly. Due to significant differences and missing coordination in current practice of ship waste management in the Danube countries the increase of inland waterway transport enhances the environmental risks related to illegal ship waste discharge into the Danube. In order to account for this, the project WANDA (WAste management for inland Navigation on the DAnube) aims at establishing a sustainable, environmentally sound and transnationally coordinated approach in ship waste management along the Danube by (1) elaborating national ship waste management concepts, (2) implementing pilot actions and (3) developing a financing model for the operating system based on the polluter-pays principle.