Throw it Overboard

[Woodwind]

Originally Posted by zeehag

as a lover of this earth and seas, i find when the lids of cans are sent to the deep they do dissolve and recycle the minerals to the earth.

foods cut fine enough will feed fish. and birds.
i am not bp but i am not going to keep some forms of garbage that recycle easily to the beach and have the smell befoul my breathing air. maybe i wont be near shore for a few weeks..

Of course, things that (likely) will not have any impact on the environment can (and will be on my boat) tossed overboard. However, concerning cans etc: They all are coated with some plastic on the inside - those do not dissolve. In fact, the most troublesome contaminant to the oceans is plastic! Not oil, not industrial waste, but solid plastic. It gets ground up into micro particles on the beaches & shores worldwide, and stays in the water for hundreds of years, clogging sealife's gills....

But there have been posts here about ditching complete engines or fridges overboard. Shame on you who did that!

But meal leftovers...potato peels...etc. FINE! They have (almost) no impact on the ocean. Neither does human waste, discharged through the toilet. It *does* have an impact, but it is absolutely negligible compared to what is put into the seas through fertilizers used in farming.

[zeehag]

when i heat up stuff in cans IN the cans and find no plastic residue, i cannot believe there is plastic in these cans. the cans with holes in bottoms make good lil fishie reefs and hermit crab homes until they dissolve in mere months. and never pitch em in inland waters... ocean water does dissolve cans fast. try it. is fun. compare it with coca cola, also good at dissolving rust.

[boatman61]

I think you'll find canned food containers are 'tinned'.... plastic is not good for humans either... cannot see it getting past the watchdogs. at least in Europe....
I do know in the States there are many wonder drugs/food supplements etc that give glowing details/benefits about the product...
followed by an AK47 burst of "May cause Asthma, dizzy spells, shortness of breath, chest pains, diarrhea, blindness, your willie may drop off, do not drive or operate machinery, blah, blah, blah".......
So in your case... who knows...??

[zeehag]

no wonder why my eyes are trying to cross all the time..LOL..^^^

[senormechanico]

Spontaneous pregnancy, growing 2 heads...
I like the asthma inhaler commercial which glowingly says "...increased cause of death due to asphyxiation..."
3/4 of the commercial is people smiling while telling you can die from using it!

[Woodwind]

Originally Posted by zeehag

when i heat up stuff in cans IN the cans and find no plastic residue, i cannot believe there is plastic in these cans. the cans with holes in bottoms make good lil fishie reefs and hermit crab homes until they dissolve in mere months. and never pitch em in inland waters... ocean water does dissolve cans fast. try it. is fun. compare it with coca cola, also good at dissolving rust.

Well, as a matter of fact, ALL cans are coated, at least from the inside. Otherwise the contents would pretty much eat through the material, or at least dissolve some of it to contaminate the contents. As you correctly observed, coca cola is very good at eating through metals...as is anything acidic, like tomatoes. Same goes for salt. What canned food does not contain salt?

For starters, you might look at this part of a BBC documentary on plastic contamination of the oceans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_QUCcr2Ixg

Of course, the plastics used to coat tins or to make any sort of food container are pretty much inert in themselfes (although they *do* leak various unhealthy substances into the food directly, in very small amounts!), that very 'quality' of being inert is what makes them stay for hundreds of years in the oceans.

Furthermore, the surface of the ground up plastic has the unfortunate ability to (loosely) bind all sort of toxic substances (found - deluted - in the seawater) to it, thereby concentrating the toxins to a concentration several tousandfold that of the seawater.

Once the plastic is ingested by marine life, the toxins readily release into their bodies....

Stop putting plastic into the water! Better yet, try to avoid using plastic in the first place!

[Woodwind]

And another one on the topic worth watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNqz...eature=related

[GordMay]

During the 1950s, manufacturers began lining cans with plastic to fend off bacteria that could get into food and drinks if the container corroded. The biggest concern was food-borne botulism, an illness that used to kill six in ten of its victims. Thanks to liners and rigorous sterilization, botulism in commercial canned goods is now pretty rare. Trouble is, most can liners contain Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that can leach into the food. Last year, the nonprofit Consumers Union found it in 18 of 19 canned foods it tested.

Consumer Reports tests find wide range of Bisphenol A in soups, juice, and more
➥ BPA in canned food: Consumer Reports Tests

Which Canned Goods Contain the Most BPA?
➥ Which Canned Goods Contain the Most BPA? | Mother Jones

[kenny chaos]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Consumers Union found it in 18 of 19 canned foods it tested.
es

18 out of 19? Wow. That reminds me of a song;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK6zjtUj00

[four winds]

Earlier this year I first heard about the issues with BPA. I've heated food in the can many times in the past, but not any more. Apparently heat releases the BPA into the food and is consumed as a result.

Current studies being conducted with Chinese factory workers where BPA is produced are highlighting the dangers because of their increased exposure.

It's in plastic containers as well, like water bottles. The recycle symbol on the container contains a number which indicates if BPA is present.

I think the rhyme goes,"1, 5, 4, 2 all the rest are bad for you." So if a child is "teething" on a cup with a 2, 3, or 6 they are ingesting BPA.

I've heard we all have BPA in us to some extent.

This is from an interview on NPR of the author of a study submitted to the NIH or some agency that studied the issue for many years before coming to conclusions.

[Woodwind]

BPA leaching directly into the (canned) food is one thing (bad enough, to be sure!), the plastic accumulating in the oceans is another story beyond that. Even if one does not care about poisoned marine life....these toxins accumulate in ever higher concentrations wandering up the food chain. So, when you eat your next meal of some fish, think about that!

Apart from that, I certainly prefer clean, sparkling water where I sail....

I remember vividly when I was sailing with my dad in turkish waters in the 80ies that I was posted as an outlook on the bow when we were motoring to watch out for all those thousands of plastic bags floating close to the surface - and more than once fouled our prop in them.

And that in the Bosphorus, a sea strait that has a constant north-to-south current of up to 7 knots!!

Moving further south into the marmara sea, the whole eastern coast, especially around Izmir, was a total dump even back then...

So, fellow sailors, please think twice before chugging anything overboard!

[Don1500]

I have lost at least one screw, nut, washer, light bulb, light lens, pulley, or gear for every job I have ever done on deck. They just get up and throw themselves over the side. And it's usually the part I don't have a replacement for. (Every job that requires a single trip to Home Depot can only be accomplished in three trips.)

[Tellie]

True story..kind of
I had this old sailor come by my boat a few years ago to help me with some deck gear. He droppd and old canvas work bag on the deck reached in and pulled out a very cheap flea market phillips head screw driver. With no explanation he just tossed it over board. I asked bit surprised "Whydja do that?" He said "That's just to teach my good tools that they cain't swim either"

[ardoin]

I'm going to have to try that cheap screwdriver trick... I know I've had more than 10 of them jump out of my hand in the last few years. I have one with a lanyard on it now, but the string gets all twisted up and in the way.
I have never thrown something overboard. But I am saving some ashes for 0 deg Lat as a promise to a friend.

[bruce smith]

Had a Hillerrange on board for years . We had nicknamed it "Hindenberg" . Well, by n by , dang thing almost burned up the boat. I dropped it into the deep six,(more like 600). I think I saw a pretty porpoise try n swallow it on the way down!!