Holding Tanks (or not)

[RupertW]

presumably, you realise you are the exception though and that normal users don't bother? and that part of the reason they don't bother is people like you argue holding tanks and discharge only when offshore are completely unnecessary. If you mean "so long as you store your shitty paper in a bucket you aren't a big part of the problem" you should probably say that so people can make an informed judgement on which bit of inconvenience they will suffer - a holding tank or a bag of used toilet paper to dispose of.


if they really did that totally holding tanks and sea cocks would never block! Even if its really good at mincing stuff you still have finely shredded paper that will take a while in the environment to break down.

Now we have reached peak nonsense - not only are you not part of the problem, but any boat owner who is willing to take responsibility for their own waste is actually just helping the major polluters. I don't mind when selfish people ignore everyone else, but once selfish people start lecturing those who do bother to respect others it really gets my goat.

If you want to solve a problem go for the main causes, if you want good practice to happen then encourage those who do it responsibly instead of saying they are the thin end of the wedge and that good practice encourages people who use bad practice. I will leave you to your dream of pump-out facilities along the UK coastline and then to wonder why there is no discernible change in any pollution.

 

[Boathook]

No definitely from yachts as it has been in bays with no infrastructure ashore and clustered around anchoring spots. A typical manual toilet just flushes it through intact.

Mines a manaul lavac and seems to 'shred' the paper into tiny bits. I wonder if what you saw were 'moisture wipes' ? or what ever they are called. Cause havoc with sewers as they don't break up easily.

 

[RupertW]

Mines a manaul lavac and seems to 'shred' the paper into tiny bits. I wonder if what you saw were 'moisture wipes' ? or what ever they are called. Cause havoc with sewers as they don't break up easily.

No definitely normal loo paper with perforations and a few times in different places alas. Certainly manualJabscos don’t shred them - water just pushes them through a joker valve, maybe tearing some but not all sheets.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

No definitely normal loo paper with perforations and a few times in different places alas. Certainly manualJabscos don’t shred them - water just pushes them through a joker valve, maybe tearing some but not all sheets.

You make a good case for everyone to use their holding tank.

 

[RupertW]

You make a good case for everyone to use their holding tank.

I certainly use both of mine all the time except at sea. The only area of disagreement I’m seeing is the definition of how far out you need to be before discharging them (assuming you use the Med practice of a separate bin for paper).

 

[penfold]

Wet wipes should be outlawed, they're an abomination; if they must exist there should be a standard for solubility established, not a made-up one created by manufacturers.

 

[Hydrozoan]

Wet wipes should be outlawed, they're an abomination; if they must exist there should be a standard for solubility established, not a made-up one created by manufacturers.

Fine to Flush Wet Wipe Certification | WRc (wrcgroup.com)
Specification here: NEW MASTER IGN 2 (wrcgroup.com)

 

[ltcom]

Far worse than this is the national news that UK sewer plants are pumping raw sewage onto beaches by the millions of gallons. It was bad enough when they did it after heavy rain.....no excuse with no rain for weeks. Very bad practice.

 

[penfold]

Fine to Flush Wet Wipe Certification | WRc (wrcgroup.com)
Specification here: NEW MASTER IGN 2 (wrcgroup.com)

You misunderstand; I mean all of them, not just the ones vendors might slap a 'flushable' sticker on. The masses are incapable of telling the difference between things that are flushable and those which are not, a walk on any british beach reveals this by the crop of cotton bud stalks at the tide line.

 

[PhillM]

With Swift I had a choice of a chemical camping toilet or refit a sea toilet. Have gone chemical for now and will see how that goes. My thinking is that in rivers and anchorages the chemical toilet is best and when out at sea, I can always dump it over the side. Best of both worlds.

 

[RupertW]

With Swift I had a choice of a chemical camping toilet or refit a sea toilet. Have gone chemical for now and will see how that goes. My thinking is that in rivers and anchorages the chemical toilet is best and when out at sea, I can always dump it over the side. Best of both worlds.

Creating then dumping chemicals compared to natural waste can never be good, surely?

 

[st599]

Whether for rights to anchor due to entirely unscientific worries about sea grass (where agricultural run-off, trawling and sea temp changes matter massively more)

The concern is not with the health of sea grass. The UK government has decided that to meet its COP26 limits, something approaching 5% of our carbon output will be captured by sea grass beds, salt marshes and the like.

Anchoring has been shown to rerelease the carbon.

To do this, they need huge new seagrass meadows and huge new areas of salt marsh.

 

[PhillM]

Creating then dumping chemicals compared to natural waste can never be good, surely?

I don’t use the chemicals. Just use it as a holding tank.

 

[Hydrozoan]

You misunderstand; I mean all of them, not just the ones vendors might slap a 'flushable' sticker on. The masses are incapable of telling the difference between things that are flushable and those which are not, a walk on any british beach reveals this by the crop of cotton bud stalks at the tide line.

You said (at #46):

.... if they [wet wipes] must exist there should be a standard for solubility established, not a made-up one created by manufacturers.

I was simply pointing out that such a standard, not 'a made-up one created by manufacturers' and not simply resulting in a sticker 'slapped on' by vendors, does already exist. Of course if its voluntary use by consumers and manufacturers/vendors does not prove effective in radically changing the market, as you fear, it - or something like it - may have to be made mandatory.

 

[RupertW]

The concern is not with the health of sea grass. The UK government has decided that to meet its COP26 limits, something approaching 5% of our carbon output will be captured by sea grass beds, salt marshes and the like.

Anchoring has been shown to rerelease the carbon.

To do this, they need huge new seagrass meadows and huge new areas of salt marsh.

Where has anchoring been shown to rerelease the carbon in any measurable amounts, especially compared to trawling and agricultural run-off reducing the amount of carbon captured in the first place?

 

[st599]

Where has anchoring been shown to rerelease the carbon in any measurable amounts, especially compared to trawling and agricultural run-off reducing the amount of carbon captured in the first place?

The research is published and collated in to a few Parliamentary notes e.g.: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0651/POST-PN-0651.pdf
and also in publications like Nature: Impact of mooring activities on carbon stocks in seagrass meadows - Scientific Reports

I never said that it was as bad as trawling or agricultural run-off, just that it is being investigated as the UK's carbon sequestration scheme would be fairly reliant on huge new seagrass beds with zero disturbance.

The biggest research project is Natural England's Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affEcting the Seabed project which is investigating the sequestration capabilities of growing sea grass meadows. The RYA is part of that one looking at mitigations for small boats. Their results so far seem to be tending towards the large meadows and no anchoring end of the spectrum to hit UK targets.

I think the days of emptying holding tanks and anchoring where we like are numbered.

 

[Frogmogman]

Wet wipes should be outlawed, they're an abomination; if they must exist there should be a standard for solubility established, not a made-up one created by manufacturers.

Worth mentioning that kitchen roll is almost as bad as wet wipes. Years ago I suffered a series of very unpleasant blocked drains incidents at one of my pubs. Turned out that one of the cleaners would wipe down the loos with kitchen paper and then flush it…..

 

[westernman]

That is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen on this or any other forum.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Worth mentioning that kitchen roll is almost as bad as wet wipes. Years ago I suffered a series of very unpleasant blocked drains incidents at one of my pubs. Turned out that one of the cleaners would wipe down the loos with kitchen paper and then flush it…..

Not meaning to diminish your experience here, but is there such a thing as a non unpleasant drain blockage?

 

[Bilgediver]

Not to mention holding tanks that back-flow into the pan because of valve failure...

Valve failure and design failure. I thought it was normal to discharge into the top of a holding tank! Then flow back is the tank full signal