waste disposal - cans and glas

[madman2525]

Hi everybody,

I was sailing on a british ship last year and the skipper and the host/first mate said to dump cans and glas overboard as they corrode very quick and this is the most enviromental friendly way to dipose them. I have my doubts, although the guy was very enviromentally aware and a rather concerned person.

Any opinions? As long as I have no sure way to know, I will dispose anything non organic onshore and organic far away from land.

Thanks for your info

mad

[Valiente]

Glass, yes. Glass is essentially silica and will erode...or make a nice hidey hole for a small fish.

Metal I would crush flat and recycle on the shore. Refined metals like sheet steel and aluminum represent a fair bit of refining and smelting and rolling energy, none of which needs to be at the bottom of the sea.

Plastics, obviously not...

[Rancho]

I agree the cans will corrode quikly without doing any harm, the glas will be there forever but won't do any harm either. (in deep water)

[buckeyesailor]

I can't vouch for the authenticity of this but I heard of a conscientious sailor who took his garbage ashore on an island to a proper "facility", paid his fee...... only to find out later that they in turn took it to the other side of the island and dumped it in the ocean.

[sailingdog]

MARPOL basically says it's fine to dispose of tin cans, aluminum cans and glass bottles when out past the the three-mile mark...provided they don't float as a result of the way you dispose of them. So fill 'em with water and over the side. Of course, if you're just day sailing...please cart the trash home instead...

[SimonV]

aluminum cans and plastics come home. Tin cans go over as do glass bottles after a whack with the winch handle.

[sailaway21]

Whatever goes over the side should ideally be weighted so it sinks.

[madman2525]

ok, thanks for the advice, I realy had a bad concience for throwing that stuff overboard. Now I feel better

I don't know how I will handle this on trips I skipper, but at least, I know it's not too bad to dump sme things.

Cheers

Mad

[PBzeer]

I bag all my waste, then dispose of it when I fuel up or take a slip. With the dinghy on davits, I just put the bags back there. Of course, that is for coastal cruising, not bluewater passagemaking.

[Boasun]

Its the plastics you should cart home. Even if it is from the middle of the ocean.