Bloody disgracefull behavior!

[Capct]

I think its a US law...I believe its law here too.
We always pack out what we load up with.

Places that you can rid yourself of your trash can be challenging to find.Always being aware of the packaging and buy as little garbage as possible.I too have a little area in the aft hold that will hold a few large bags which is handy.Lots of little public docks dot the coast here and in some pretty remote places.Amazingly very few have facilities of anykind to get rid of trash.

[Lynx]

I regret to say that I see this almost every where that I go. To bad.

Marathon Harbor, Fl has events to clean up the harbor and I do see the yachties picking up trash while on their dinghy. I do not think that most of the trash is in the water is because of the boaters but blown from shore.

I have found it best to set the example and tell people not to do it and take more back with you.

In the above example if every boat had taken back a small bag of extra trash, it would be gone very quickly.

[coot]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Not trying to get into an argument, and I agree, it should'nt happen, but is an actual law.?

What senormechanico posted is actual law for US flagged boats. I am required to comply with that law anywhere in the world, even when in another country's territory. I have a notice posted by the garbage can, a written waste management plan filed with my ships papers, and a notice posted in the engine room that says you can't pour oil overboard.

And I hear the EU has a reputation for being bureacratic.

[Soaring Albatross]

I live on a tidal river in the UK and it fills me with disgust to see all the garbage that floats back and forth. I've seen everything from garbage cans to barrels, beer cans and the list is endless. I guess it comes from the town just up river from me and people who don't care. Any rubbush I generate, and I believe its the same for most livaboards here, is recycled, taken to the local tip, composted or burnt.

When I go to sea, I have to be extra vigilant for all the stuff in the river so that it doesn't get sucked up my cooling intake or wrapped round my prop which has happened once when I was abeam to the flow and gave me a nasty moment when I thought I would be swept downstream into other boats. Incidentally the place where I'm moored is only about 40 feet wide!

Apart from the rubbish, and its not as bad as I seem to have made it, it is a beautiful and tranquil place.

[charley]

It is sad that alot of people just drop their trash whereever they are. Some go out of their way to dump trash in remote pristine areas. Case in point, I was out 4 wheeling one day and found a huge pile of tires at least 15 miles from any paved roads. I spent about two hours piling them in my truck to take back to the tire desposal.
Anything I take with me, whether it be out in the woods camping, offroading, fishing or boating, it all comes back plus some. When we go camping the children each get a bag and get to pick up trash around the aera where we are camping. The child with the most trash in their bag gets a reward.

REDUCE, REUSE, AND RECYCLE

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by coot

What senormechanico posted is actual law for US flagged boats. I am required to comply with that law anywhere in the world, even when in another country's territory. I have a notice posted by the garbage can, a written waste management plan filed with my ships papers, and a notice posted in the engine room that says you can't pour oil overboard.

And I hear the EU has a reputation for being bureacratic.

Here, I'll post it............................._/)

[coot]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Here, I'll post it............................._/)

Yow! Look at all that text!

Mine is only a couple sentences. From memory, it goes something like "All garbage is to be retained on board until properly disposed on shore. Exceptions may be made with the permission of the owner. Any crew member disposing of garbage is responsible for complying with this plan."

That last sentence is there because the waste management plan is required to state who is responsible for compliance.

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by viking69

Well i sailed into the shack at double bay here just north of airlie beach just to find it is just like a visit to the local dump. behind the shack in the bush is an area about 20m in diameter which is just all rubbish incuding broken bottles etc. it is piled about a foot high. Around the shack is also littered with rubbish. only last week i heard peple complaining in the yacht club here that there is talk about taring it down and to be honest i think it is the best thing that could happen as obviously the local boating comunity has no respect for the environment. it is only possible to get to by boat and is mainly used by yachties. So we can mainly blame our own. it was my first time there as i have heard so many people talking about it but i will not bother returning just to see the destuction of our environment. Which brings me to the question. Just why do people leave all their rubbish behind when they know there is no one else to collect it???????

Because no one was/is watching? I'll bet after seeing the 'dump' several folks went back to their boat and retrieved their garbage and put it there. "But look sweetie it's already a dump! What will a few more bags harm?"

None of those folks will ever admit to being a total slob. I believe you've stumbled onto the number one damaging result of human existence these days, we create too much damn trash.
When I was a kid, I'm 60, you would constantly see folks throw garbage out their car windows. Including dirty diapers, and these were cloth not paper! The ONLY thing that put an end, for the most part, to that practice was the passing of litter laws with teeth and a public service campaign.
It's a very sad commentary on us humans and our feelings toward our planet.

Like most of you I have been known to actually pick up others trash and deposit it. I once followed a lady home so I could give her back her 'lost' trash that she threw out her car window. She was quite embarassed and claimed to have never done this before, Yea right.
I

[horseatingweeds]

Wouldn't the only real environmental hazard be plastic? Paper, aluminum, tin, and all that, will sink and simply go back to where they came from essentially.

This reminds me of a ridiculous decision made my city this last month. Since I have lived here there has been a recycling program that picks up a bin every other week along with the trash. I was proud that our community had this service available.

So, the state of Michigan house passed this new charge on every ton of fill going to land fills; the idea being that it would decrease the amount of land filling – right.

Well, my city’s ingenious leaders realized that with our current trash production and this new charge, along with general increases in trash disposal costs, we would not be able to afford it.

So what do they do? THEY CUT THE RECYCLING PICK-UP!!!

Anyway, I guess only a very small percentage of the city was actually making use of the recycling pick-up anyway. We should have been more creative and focused on reducing the garbage rather than just trying to cut expenses.

[S/V Elusive]

I don't recycle.

With that said, what I DO do, is I make it easy for those folks that pick through our trash. We don't have a recycle bin at our marina. We have people who apparently make their living by picking through the trash for recyclable items, collect them, and turn them in for cash at recycling centers.

So, I package and save (compact them) until I have a plastic bag full, and then place the bag next to the trash bin. So, I don't recycle. But, with this method, I feel that I'm not only helping the environment, but also some less advantaged folk.

This may be why the marinas do not have a recycle bin - with these folks coming around ... ??

[horseatingweeds]

Now that’s an example of Capitalist recycling!

[senormechanico]

"When I was a kid, I'm 60, you would constantly see folks throw garbage out their car windows. Including dirty diapers, and these were cloth not paper! The ONLY thing that put an end, for the most part, to that practice was the passing of litter laws with teeth and a public service campaign."
[snipped]



I remember that attitude as well.
One day while driving to work, I saw some big fat slob of a woman driving her dirty fat tub of a car while her equally slobby fat kid was tossing the cover of a new LP album out the window. When I rolled down my window to tell her it was not the thing to do, she said, "WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?? IT'S JUST PLASTIC!!"

Steve B.

[NoTies]

I fished commercially for many years but it wasn't until 1986 that I got a skipper who insisted that we keep all plastic rubbish aboard, even went out & bought a big bin out of his own money to retain it (we were 100' and out for 6 weeks). I though he was weird until he pointed out we were trolling hooks for our albacore catch and everytime we got a bit of plastic on the hook it stopped fishing. I thought "great" we'll make more money. Now I avoid throwing plastic over the side for entirely different reason, I love my planet. Whenever the "environment argument" comes up and people say that it'll take too long to make a difference I remember how my attitiude changed in a relatively short period of time (ie, I grew up) and so did alot of other people's and now when I go to sea in coastal waters I see a huge difference compared with the bad old days of only 20 years ago.

[hellosailor]

MARPOL probably is not a "law" in the strict meaning, since laws come from legislative bodies of sovereign nations. It is an international treaty agreement though, and as such has the standing of law FOR THOSE COUNTRIES THAT SUBSCRIBED TO IT.

If there was room to bring someone ON the boat...there's room to keep the waste from it, until you can dispose of it properly. Plastic has to go on land, although the north coast of France will probably complain if the constant flow of free plastic shopping bags from the US ceases. Once upon a time metal ("tin" cans, iron and aluminum) were thought OK to dump in deep salt water since they would break down quickly--but in reality that can be 25++ years, and it really isn't so hard to rinse them in salt water and stow them.

I'm of mixed thoughts on paper. If it is unwaxed, plain pulp, there's nothing wrong with tearing it into tiny bits and letting it re-pulp at sea. IF that's far enough out so it will dissolve before bothering anyone. Again, simpler to fold it flat and bring it along, or use it for origami.<G>

[delmarrey]

I was raised by parents that went through both depressions. So in my family nothing went to waste. Metal cans and other metals went in a stockpile to be sold. Glass containers were either stock piled for sale or reused for canning foods. When in High School, the deposit on beverage bottles helped fill the gas tank on my car.

Paper and cardboard were used to stuff the wood stove in the morning to heat the kitchen. My mother liked junk mail! She called it stove stuffers.

Old clothes were used for cleaning around the house or for rags while working on machinery, and then went in the stove. Back before they were poly based materials.

Old food went to feed the chickens and pigs, and the manure went to fertilize the garden and fields. Even the eggshells went back to the chickens to help keep their shells hard.

The problem with today’s society is everything is made of plastic. What the hell can you do with old plastic? Recycling is difficult, at lease here in the PNW. It's hard to crush and stay crushed! And there are very few places that will take it!

I think PLASTIC is favored by the industry due to its weight and cost. Shipping is safer (little breakage) and lighter. Plus, they're not forced to reuse the old containers. Which is the BIGGEST problem.

What is recycling???? Reuse! Not boiled back down or shreded and made into something else that is difficult to be recycled. Boiling plastic back down or remanufacturing uses energy!!! Where washing and reusing makes more $ense environmentally.

The first hit we got were plastic shopping bags. They should have outlawed them from the start. They are everywhere! The sewer workers are constantly pulling the things out. I've pulled the things up on my anchor and have had them on my prop and cooling water intake. And look around after a windstorm.

The world either needs to get away from plastic or find a way that is profitable to recycle the stuff. That way the general public will have an in¢entive to re¢y¢le the stuff.

Humans have been self-destructive since the beginning of time and all it takes is a little in¢entive or catastrophe to get them to doing right.

My P$1.