# Dealing with garbage while cruising



## Keldee (Jun 23, 2008)

Reducing and re-using waste is a subject near and dear to my heart not only while cruising.
After seeing many people cruising the Bahamas towing their garbage in big black bags behind them in the dinghy,I would like to get an idea how others view this and what their solutions are or if they have even given it some thought.


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## Boasun (Feb 10, 2007)

1. Remove all un-necessary boxes & wrappings that are on the products. 
2. As you barbacue use it to burn some of the waste paper. The reason we don't have burn barrels on work boats is because a burning barrel is one of the distress signals... So don't put out to much of a smoke signal if you can help it. And don't burn your fish or steaks either.:laugher

3. If you can't fit a trash compactor on your boat then do the can stomp dance to flatten those cans. Remove the labels from the cans before you sail and mark them with stencil pencils and log the stamped markings on the cans also.

Note: Removing un-necessary boxes & wrappings also reduces the chance of having vermin on board also.
Also don't use cardboard boxes to separate products. All you are doing is installing apartment housing for vermin. Use Plastic boxes or milk crates.


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## sailhog (Dec 11, 2006)

We place our trash in garbage bags and then, once they're full, throw them overboard. The trash usually floats for a while, as the air in the bags gives them some buoyancy. One time we had a whole string if 15 or so bags floating behind us row for as far as the eye could see of the Florida Keys! This was at dusk, with the sun illuminating each of the bulging white bags in a beautiful "S" on the horizon. Absolutely gorgeous sight.

One word of caution, however: if you choose to use this method, be sure to remove any papers with your boat's name or your name on them. Nobody wants a bunch of water cops telling you what you can and cannot do.


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

sailhog said:


> We place our trash in garbage bags and then, once they're full, throw them overboard. ......


.. and that's how you find your way back, eh, Hog?


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## sailhog (Dec 11, 2006)

Faster,
You aren't going to believe this, but my wife and I were left in the forest as young children by our parents. We walked around for days, trying to find our way back. My wife had left a trail of bread crumbs, but the ******* birds ate them so we got good and lost. We found this old lady who lived in a house made of candy... very weird. The old ***** tried to throw us in her ******* oven! ONe of those too-weird-not-to-be-true stories...


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Unless he put any of his diapers in the bags...then the trail of dead fish is usually easier to follow, since the trash bags spontaneously combust.. .


Faster said:


> .. and that's how you find your way back, eh, Hog?


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

sailhog said:


> We place our trash in garbage bags and then, once they're full, throw them overboard. The trash usually floats for a while, as the air in the bags gives them some buoyancy. One time we had a whole string if 15 or so bags floating behind us row for as far as the eye could see of the Florida Keys! This was at dusk, with the sun illuminating each of the bulging white bags in a beautiful "S" on the horizon. Absolutely gorgeous sight.
> 
> One word of caution, however: if you choose to use this method, be sure to remove any papers with your boat's name or your name on them. Nobody wants a bunch of water cops telling you what you can and cannot do.


I cannot believe I just read that!!! That is completely illegal and you know it!!!

You need to dispose of your trash propoerly by throwing it in an approved Telstar 28. Be green and keep all the trash together... that's our motto. If you cannot find a Telstar near you, PM me and I will give you SD's address to overnight your garbage.

On a more serious note, we never had a roach problem with cardboard, but we did not use a lot of it. We did always crush our cans. We tried to avoid plastic things where possible, but always used plastic baggies where needed and a lot of the reuseable containers which work great for the boat. We threw our food items overboard (fish love em), but the trash still has a way of starting to stink. That is why we used plastic garbage bags. Paper bags really did not work for us - though we always carry one or two in case of glass breakage. We kept our trash (tightly sealed) in the lazarette. The trick is to try and rinse as much of the stuff that might stink off as we could.

- CD


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## rwlh1950 (Jan 9, 2008)

You must be pulling my p..... No true sailor throws rubbish into the sea any more surely. You brought it out then take it back to land with you. Cut out as much disposable junk and other packing as you can.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Cruisingdad said:


> I cannot believe I just read that!!! That is completely illegal and you know it!!!
> 
> You need to dispose of your trash propoerly by throwing it in an approved Telstar 28. Be green and keep all the trash together... that's our motto. If you cannot find a Telstar near you, PM me and I will give you SD's address to overnight your garbage.


This coming from the guy who uses his brick BBQ pit as an incinerator... 



> On a more serious note, we never had a roach problem with cardboard, but we did not use a lot of it. We did always crush our cans. We tried to avoid plastic things where possible, but always used plastic baggies where needed and a lot of the reuseable containers which work great for the boat. We threw our food items overboard (fish love em), but the trash still has a way of starting to stink. That is why we used plastic garbage bags. Paper bags really did not work for us - though we always carry one or two in case of glass breakage. We kept our trash (tightly sealed) in the lazarette. The trick is to try and rinse as much of the stuff that might stink off as we could.
> 
> - CD


Seriously... I think you need to have a decent trash management plan and you need to keep food trash separate from dry trash.


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## RanAweigh (Jan 16, 2009)

Cruisingdad said:


> I cannot believe I just read that!!! That is completely illegal and you know it!!!
> 
> It would appear that he meant it to be "tongue in cheek".
> 
> The part about the old lady in the forest and the oven certainly seems true thoughhttp://www.sailnet.com/forums/images/smilies/laugher.gif


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

RanAweigh said:


> Cruisingdad said:
> 
> 
> > I cannot believe I just read that!!! That is completely illegal and you know it!!!
> ...


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

No one ever accused Sailhog or Cruisingdad of being true sailors... 



rwlh1950 said:


> You must be pulling my p..... No true sailor throws rubbish into the sea any more surely. You brought it out then take it back to land with you. Cut out as much disposable junk and other packing as you can.


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## sailhog (Dec 11, 2006)

Sounds like we got a bunch of environmentalist-type wack jobs here on this board. Suppose you all go #2 in the toilet, even though university studies show that just going in your britches and off-loading all the matter into the ocean at the end of the day is something like 32.8% faster. But nooooo.... we don't want to disturb the fishes!


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## Keldee (Jun 23, 2008)

Trash management starts before you bring it aboard.
Discard any outer packaging and put it into re-usable containers,preferably buying bulk.
Compostables should be kept separate and buried ashore.A great many islands have poor soil so look at the good you will be doing.No silly answers to that-I am talking about out of the way places-it is so difficult for men to be sensible!
Of course on a long sea voyage then chuck overboard.
Tins and glass need to be washed then can be carried to the port with disposal.
Garbage that does smell(for the people that insist on putting toilet paper in a baggie)should of course be kept separate but as soon as possible can be burnt on shore with other combustible garbage and the resultant ashes then buried.If adequate thought is put into what you bring on board burning need not be done in large quantities.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

Yes agreed, deal with a lot of the potential garbage before bringing it aboard. When we're sailing locally we take everything back to the marina and dump it in the skips provided. Here's what we do on a voyage.

We try not to buy anything in plastic. Only glass and tins. Also we try to avoid Tetra-pac which are worse than plastic.

Disposal at sea (not on the local reef):

Glass goes into the sea. It is completely pollution-free.
Tins go into the sea. And I've said it before but I'll repeat it here, the Titanic probably represents more metal going into the sea than all the cruising sailors' tins in living memory (and the Titanic isn't causing anyone a problem, niether are my tins). They will corrode/abrade to nothing over time.
Paper get's burned or torn into little 1" square pieces and goes into the sea. It does bio-degrade, unlike the thick masses of newspaper in your local landfill.
All left-over foodstuffs go into the sea. They also bio-degrade.
The stuff we keep? Everything else. But we wash our garbage like we wash our dishes. In the galley sink with dishwash soap, washed and dried. When it goes into the refuse bag it is as clean as the plate we will eat our next meal from. And guess what? It never smells. Our refuse bag improves the hygene standard of the next island we visit.

Anyone who wants to convert me from what they don't agree with about the above, save your energy. I've been having this debate for thirty years - I've heard all the criticisms before and I disagree with all of it.


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## Keldee (Jun 23, 2008)

Yes!!!!!


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Andre—

Be careful of some of the newer "paper" goods, as they have plastic laminated to them and should be held for disposal on land.


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## belliegirl2 (Sep 9, 2004)

Everything is biodegradeable eventually right. I have seen some pretty bad litter bugs. When I was 10 I went sailing with these two brothers off the coast of california. 

All plastic stayed on the boat, anything else went over the side. Along with the chant "f#$% it it's biodegradeable".

Fun guys and more than a little crazy, you should have seen their trash trail after a clean up.


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