In the process, ICCL members have shared waste management strategies and technologies, while focusing on a common goal of waste reduction.
The process of waste reduction includes waste prevention, the purchasing of products that have recycled content or produce less waste, and recycling or reuse of wastes that are generated. The ultimate goal is to have the waste reduction culture absorbed into every facet of cruise vessel operation. A fully integrated system beginning with the design of the vessel must address environmental issues at every step.
Management practices for waste reduction must start before a product is selected. Eco-purchasing and packaging are vital to the success of any environmental program, as are strategies to change packaging, processes and management to optimize the resources used.
The commitment of the industry to this cooperative effort has been quite successful as companies have shared information and strategies.
Waste Handling Procedures
Hazardous wastes and waste streams onboard cruise vessels are identified and segregated for individual handling and management in accordance with appropriate laws and regulations. Hazardous wastes are not discharged overboard nor are they commingled or mixed with other waste streams.
A. Photo Processing, Including X-Ray Development Fluid Waste
Discussion
There are several waste streams associated with photo processing operations that have the potential to be regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These waste streams include spent fixer, spent cartridges, expired film and silver flake.
Photographic fixer removes the unexposed silver compounds from the film during the developing process. The spent fixer can have as much as 2000-3000 parts per million (ppm) of silver. Silver bearing waste is regulated by RCRA as a hazardous waste if the level of silver exceeds 5 ppm as determined by the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test.
Silver recovery units are used to reclaim the silver from the used fixer waste stream. There are two types of recovery units. These are active (with electricity) and passive (without electricity) units. The active unit uses elecincity to plate silver onto an electrode. The passive unit uses a chemical reaction between steel wool and silver to remove most of the silver from solution. Utilizing the best available technology, the equipment currently onboard cruise ships conservatively reduces the silver content of this efiluent to 1-3 mg/l (milligrams/1 or ppm)
The effluent from the silver recovery process must be tested before it can be discharged as a non-hazardous waste to be further diluted by addition to the ship's gray water. AftSer the photographic and X-ray development fluids are treated for the removal of silver, the treated, nan-hazardous effluent is then blended with the ships' graywater. In general, assuming that an entire week's photographic and X-ray development treated effluent stream is introduced into a single day's accumulation of graywater, the concentration of silver in the resulting mixture would be less than one-half of one part per billion (＜0.5 micrograms/liter). We wish to emphasize that such mixing would not be done on a weekly basis. Even at this assumed extreme however, the silver concentration would only be approximately one fifth (1/5) the surface water quality standard for predominately marine waters specified in one state where cruise ships operate. When mixing is done on a daily basis it is evident that the resulting immediate concentration would be almost an order of magnitude less than this. Additionally, it is evident that total mass of any discharges of silver would be negligible. We would once again point out that this discharge would be carried out only while the vessel is underway. [Also, it should be noted that these estimates were carried out considering the largest cruise ships in service which would produce the greatest amount of waste.]
Industy Goal: To minimize the discharge of silver into the marine environment through the use of best available technology that will reduce the silver content of the wastestream below levels specified by prevailing regulations.
Handlin Method 1:
Treat used photographic and x-ray development fluids to remove silver for recycling.
Verify that the effluent from the recovery unit is less than 5 parts per million (ppm) silver as measured by EPA-approved methodology.
After treatment, the residual waste stream fluid is non-hazardous and may be landed ashore or discharged in accordance with the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARP0L 73/78) and other prevailing regulations.
