What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers please

Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

[ QUOTE ]
Here my list...
Anything that aint plastic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Offshore, my list is the same. What is the point of carting other rubbish back to shore to go into a landfill? I make sure that metal or glass sinks quickly. My definition of 'offshore' is a bit vague - maybe 10 miles and >1,000 m of water ??
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

You beat me to it, some landfill sites especially in some of the smaller islands in the Caribbean and the Bahamas and also some of the not so small Atlantic Islands comprise of throwing the rubbish into the sea.....
 
>Green Mullahs decide you must to take it back where it came from.

That's precisely the situation in Bonaire for batteries, they allegedly have no disposal facilities, so that's what you are told to do.

We dump everything except plastic.

If you clear in the USVI and you have any food products aboard you are not allowed "to dump any garbage ashore and none must pass your lifelines". Homeland Security at it's finest.
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

"How do you manage to get these young women to sail with? Our problem is what to do with the empty Phylosan bottles and worn out support stockings "

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Chortle.
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

Quite a range of interpretations, but is does indicate that, whatever you may say, the "green message" is being heard and few of us are sticking to the old ways of deep sixing everything. However, I would make the point that we could make some impact on the problem from the other end by reducing, as far as possible, the amount of packaging we take with us. I recall a Yachting Monthly cruise to Portugal during which the crew subsisted on M&S packaged meals. As I remember the boys could hardly move below for bin bags! In the end its commonsense, the day or weekend sailor can take it home, the long haul crew cannot and for them, storing loads of rubbish could make for potential health problems.
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

dogends, coffee grounds, bits of waste food - nothing that couldn't in theory go though my alimentary passage first.

I've been tempted to deep-six 3 very old flares, in a sack with an odd length of chain, but keep carting the ruddy things around the coast in a bucket on deck just in case I come across a CG office that will take them.
 
We take it all ashore with us other than cereal and fish and animal waste. Fruit and veg can float around for ages and is unsightly though it will rot eventually.

Nobody has mentioned compactors. There are several compactors on the market that significanlty reduce the volumes.
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

[ QUOTE ]
No plastic or fizzy drinks/beer cans.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a matter of interest, why not drinks/beer cans ? They sink if punctured.
 
Everything that is bio-degradeable, which includes smashed glass, (deep sea) and crushed cans. Why take it to the tip on some carribean island for it to be dumped in the ocean??
 
It depends surely on where you're going and how long at sea/in poorer places, as some have suggested. In Spain and Portugal there is excellent recycling, so even if coming from a long distance there are lots of good ways to get rid of rubbish. (A can crusher will also help). Butin France it can be quite difficult to recycle cans and they end up in general rubbish.

Someone already graphically described the damage to a turtle from plastic. Sharp edges, as on a tin can, can cause cuts and injuries too, and different foods can also cause dietary mayhem.

As samwise says, the first trick is to reduce! We hand back excess packaging in shops, and try not to get things like eggboxes (we have acouple of those little valise thingies) and so on.

To answer the specifics, we throw away very very little at sea, except maybe the odd apple core and coffee-grounds. So far we've not generally had more than 6 days away from places for general rubbish but we've carted paper, plastic bottles, tins and bottles for a month before now so it can be recycled.
 
My definition of open ocean is 1 day sail away from any land. Also, only deep areas. So that is >3day crossings.

Cans must have the lid completely removed. Terrible traps.

Glass bottles filled with water to ensure they sink.

All food should be shredded, especially orange skins.

All plastic, is possible should not leave port.

All rubbish collected is washed in sea water before crushing and bagging. You never know when the next place will be!

All oil/filters are taken to recycling. Even if it is 1/4 of the world away.

Never burn on someone else's beaches.
 
Day / coastal sailing pretty much everything gets taken ashore to put in a bin - apart from stuff that gets thrown overboard - which includes teabags /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Longer passage? mmmmm, not got extensive experiance - but I would not be filling the boat up with Garbage.......99% overboard for safety and health reasons......although I might draw the limit at an Oil filter......or throwing used condoms at dolphins /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

[ QUOTE ]


Never burn on someone else's beaches.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do tell why not? In most of this world of ours, burning is the method used to dispose of unsanitary material, so why do you object to this? I am not being argumentative, just curious to know.
Mal
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

I'll tell a story about an English boat, a South African and an American who decided to have a BBQ and then get rid of their waste.

A good time was had by all.

Except the next day the poor local found that his seat he used for years to weave palm fronds and sit and knot nets had gone. All his big smooth boulders he used to weight the fronds to soak them, were blackened and unusable. He lived on a coral island where tree wood and smooth rocks were a luxury.

Then there is the couple that decided to burn their engine oil on the beach and left a nasty stain.

But both groups did not appreciate that the islands did not have a tidal range to clean them and the stains are probably still there.

If you want to burn the waste ask the locals if you can use their pit or area. Leaving slightly buried grotty yachty signatures is not really good for the following yachts. Leave nothing but foot prints in the sand.
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

SolarNeil is absolutely spot on, please take his advice, we've seen similar things. The good news is the locals usually do a have a pit where they burn rubbish and are usually very happy for you to use it.
 
Re: What waste do you chuck overboard on passage ? honest answers plea

Thanks for that, so I suppose your point is that common sense is not so common? I see what you mean, and obviously a little local knowledge is of great importance.
Mal
 
Yes, pretty much anything bar plastics on major passages. The only other dimension worth mentioning is that quite a large part of our planet has no effective waste disposal methods anyway i.e. you may be surprised how many "locals" just chucked our rubbish into the sea or, in the Maldives for example, into the forest behind their beach!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

M
Galeon in the 50ft Class – Hoping to Borrow a Bit of Owner Wisdom
Replies
4
Views
385
Elessar
Elessar
steved
Batteries......what would you do
Replies
3
Views
188
Refueler
Refueler

Share this page

Top