Grey waste?

[Wardy]

What is the norm for disposing of grey waste when in port or at the marina? Chuck it straight into the sea and hope it doesn't foam up or collect it in a holding tank awaiting either pump-out or disposal at sea?
Just slightly confused as to the rules here, not many boats i've seen have holding tanks of any description. Black waste... well you may as well use the marinas facilities instead of filling up your own tank, though i bet there are a fair few who, after a few pints down the local, relieve straight into the sea toilet in the depths of the night, holding tank or no. But grey???

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[snowleopard]

even on the canals, sink wastes drain directly overboard so don't worry about it.

some say that the detergents mean grey water is even more polluting than black but for now it is considered OK.

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[Piers]

I believe you'll find that in Holland the authorities are more worried about Grey than Black. It's to do with the soaps and detergents which cause more harm than the organic Black. I suspect we'll see more legislation come in eventually demanding grey tanks as well as black.

<hr width=100% size=1>Piers du Pré
http://www.dupre.co.uk

 

[Graham_Wright]

It has to be at least anti-social to surround your boat with suds in an otherwise crystal clear mooring. Furthermore, there is no hiding where it came from if there is no tide!

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[StugeronSteve]

How one gives a boat a good wash without surrounding it in suds I have never worked out. We tend to use biodegradable washing up liquid and boat wash etc and hope that we are not doing too much harm.

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.

 

[heerenleed]

BREAKING NEWS about Netherlands

This weekend it was announced that, as from 2005, new yachts must be equipped with holding tanks, and as from 2009, all yachts must have them. Meanwhile, every marina with more than 50 moorings (I believe) must have pump-out facilities and using your heads without holding tanks will become illegal throughout the Netherlands. Not sure about coast.

The announcement was made on Dutch national radio last friday. I suspect that the last words have not been said about this.
There was no specific mention about grey water.

<hr width=100% size=1>Peter a/b SV Heerenleed, Steenbergen, Netherlands
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.heerenleed.tk>http://www.heerenleed.tk</A>

 

[snowleopard]

if the authorities ever introduce a requirement for grey water tanks it will bring major problems.

my hollow keels have a capacity of 50 gallons each. when we first launched, all waste was dumped into these tanks. after a short cruise we had to re-think and dump the grey overside as the tanks filled in a day or two making it imposssible to live aboard in marinas.

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[richardandtracy]

I may be wrong, but I think all grey waste on the Norfolk Broads already has to go into holding tanks.

If I remember correctly all detergents sold in the UK have to be biodegradable (whether explicitly stated on the packaging or not). This happened in the 1960's because people got fed up with seeing foam where there should have been a river downstream of sewage outfalls.

My practice..
I hate the thought of holes in the hull, so my sink drains into a 10L holding tank that was once a camping fresh water tank. It makes me keen not to waste water as I've got to lug the tank topsides to empty it.

Regards,

Richard.


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