How does everyone handle trash onboard?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

...As I think you'd agree, dumping a small amount of compostable waste into an environment that can efficiently process it is usually the best ecological approach. Far better than landfilling or even central composting.

I wonder how MARPOL came to this? For example, sewage can be discharged off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean, but not ground food waste, if I am reading it right.

[Scaramanga F25]

When you visit Little Harbour, please do not leave your bag of garbage on the dock.

[bailsout]

Is there a good marine quality incinerator on the market? Would be a bonus as the nights get colder. Nothing burns much hotter than plastic. But of course the best way is to provision with an eye out for the left overs.

[fatherchronica]

We knew some folks who routinely burned a lot of trash on beaches including toilet paper that they did not flush. On the toilet paper incineration occasions I noticed the husband was alone on the beach tending the fire, a nice guy I suppose. He always sat upwind and never made S'mores to my knowledge. As to oil, I was reading Peter Freuchen's " The Vagrant Viking" and he tells of returning to the village of Thule he founded, then and now a US military installation, many years later after WW II and seeing the bay covered in oil from US Navy ships changing their oil and dumping it overside. His native Greenlander friends said there were no longer any birds to eat as they all died as soon as they landed on what always appeared to be placid seas and that to even get seals and walruses they had to travel far away. Thankfully even though their home was destroyed in the name of national security the Danish government sent them canned food, so no harm no foul.

[waterman46]

Sounds like you are in a marina? If so, what is the problem?
Much more of an issue for those at anchor. We keep our trash to a minimum by removing as much packaging as possible, esp. plastic, when bringing it on board. When the bin in the cabin is full we transfer that bag to a locker under the deck aft. We separate recycleable cans and glass jars and store them also in the aft locker. Whenever we can, we find somewhere on shore to legally and properly dump the trash and rarely can even find a recycling bin. Ask others in the anchorage, they will usually have a good answer for this.

Toilet paper goes in it's very own small bag!

When at sea, like more than 20 miles, it is OK to dump biodegradeable
garbage.

You asked about keeping odors to a minimum. Usually only a problem with some fruits and veggies that either went bad or you have the non-edible parts to deal with. If it is a small amount and you can't take it ashore, cut them up real fine and dump overboard. Nobody wants to see banana peels or watermelon rinds floating around their boat, but very small pieces won't pose a health or visual problem. Meat and bones will sink and the crabs love it.

[a64pilot]

This is the placard I have, I believe it’s current, my old one was not.
Pretty simple to follow

[a64pilot]

However a little common sense should in my opinion be taken, I see no harm in rinsing this mornings coffee grounds down the sink for example.
Only way you would be fined for that is if they are trying to find something to get you on

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I understand the common abhorrence of glass containers aboard, but ...
- I’ve never broken one.
- My only damaging cabin spill was a plastic bleach bottle, that punctured or abraded, and leaked out.

Yes! I had the same experience with a bleach container - I guess they are very thin. Caught it before a small seep became a big problem. Only issue is putting a very durable label on the glass container so nobody thinks it might contain something good to drink ( I use a large screw-top wine bottle, carefully relabeled, for the bleach).

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I wonder how MARPOL came to this? For example, sewage can be discharged off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean, but not ground food waste, if I am reading it right.

Probably some sort of carte blanche approach to lumpy organic waste perhaps? Gotta keep those regulations simple and general?

Originally Posted by a64pilot

However a little common sense should in my opinion be taken, I see no harm in rinsing this mornings coffee grounds down the sink for example.
Only way you would be fined for that is if they are trying to find something to get you on

Oh, my coffee grounds always goes over the side .

[Quadrille in JB]

Originally Posted by LostBiker

We have been liveaboards for 6 months now and the question of garbage control is coming up. Since we're cooking and staying aboard more now that its colder, we find the trash is getting whiffy pretty quickly inside. We use an old cooler out on deck to put the full trash bags in right now and then dump the bags in the dumpster.
Just curious as to how others handle their trash.
Thanks!
John

When on the hook and cruising we only use washable plates, etc. No paper except toilet paper after a bidet usage and paper towels. Minimal glass containers. Biggest problem was beer cans but with a good can crusher you will reduce your volume by 80%.
We bag items and store in dingy until we reach land with a dumpster.

[Steve Perkins]

We de-package everything we possibly can before taking off. We buy meat in bulk, vac pack it with a food saver running on our invertor, then freeze it. Upon cooking the vack bags get filled with lose plastic and eventually we re-vac them and seal them to keep all the smells in. We run for weeks with no smells.

On the cans overboard, I did that for years thinking as a previous comment that they rot away in no time but was then horrified to find most of the ones sold in Australia now are plastic lined (as are beer and soft drink cans). These rot and leave a transparent white plastic object that looks like a dead cuttle fish or squid hence really bad for the environment if something hungry eats it.... We rinse crush and haul to shore now.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Steve Perkins

We de-package everything we possibly can before taking off.

Do it in the super-market and leave the packaging with them. This solves your problem and is a way of putting the case for less packaging to those that can make changes, the retailers. I encourage all my cruising friends to do this. If we all did it packaging would be reduced.

Originally Posted by Steve Perkins

On the cans overboard, I did that for years thinking as a previous comment that they rot away in no time but was then horrified to find most of the ones sold in Australia now are plastic lined (as are beer and soft drink cans). These rot and leave a transparent white plastic object that looks like a dead cuttle fish or squid hence really bad for the environment if something hungry eats it.... We rinse crush and haul to shore now.

As a diver seeing the garbage on the seabed is an indication of how uncaring the human race is. As for decaying cans, plastic lined or otherwise, there are thousands, millions, of them in the sea and they take a very very long time to rot.

If in remote places then taking food scraps ashore for the locals to feed their pigs will be much appreciated.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

...As a diver seeing the garbage on the seabed is an indication of how uncaring the human race is. As for decaying cans, plastic lined or otherwise, there are thousands, millions, of them in the sea and they take a very very long time to rot.

I do wonder about the practice of tossing metal cans over the side. My view is that if you took it out on your boat, then you have space to carry it back with you. I toss organic material (food scraps), but not inorganic, even though common wisdom says tin and aluminum oxidizes pretty quickly in salt water.

But I'm not so sure. And based on your comments I'm even less sure.

So... a quick net search turns up a pretty constant factoid that both tin and aluminum takes many decades, if not centuries, to oxidize away. I think that's a pretty strong argument against simply tossing your cans over the side.

Here's a factoid graphic from NOAA which puts some numbers to how long it takes for our garbage to "disappear"

[jmh2002]

@Tupaia and @Mike OReilly

Your posts are a good reminder regarding garbage disposal in an anchorage.

Also another factor that needs to be considered - In most locations cruising boats are no longer a rarity, or sporadic visitors.

In fact in general it's quite the opposite now, cruising boats are plentiful and regular visitors in many locations.

And thereafter with some simple maths the situation easily becomes very concerning:

- 5 boats per week in an anchorage
(some anchorages can easily have 5 x this many boats, or more - maybe 10 x this many boats)

- Each throws 1 can overboard per week
(in fact 1 can per day might be more common, even just from cooking)

- 5 cans per week x 52 weeks = 260 cans on the sea floor already...

- And 5 times the boats, and 1 can per day instead?

25 x 7 x 52 weeks = 9100 cans... per year

Even if the science is in error and the cans degrade in 1 year, that is an unconscionable about of cans on the sea floor in one anchorage.

I think it's obvious just from a mathematical point of view - we can't keep doing this anymore.

[Mike OReilly]

Researchers conducted a study of Newfoundland harbours. It found a large, and growing problem of junk littering the bottom of almost everywhere they looked.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfo...land-1.4412203