All ships are required to have equipment installed onboard that limits the discharge of oil into the oceans to 15 parts per million when a ship is en route and provided the ship is not in a special area where all discharge of oil is prohibited. Regulations also require that all oil or oil residues, which cannot be discharged in compliance with these regulations, be retained onboard or discharged to a reception facility. The equipment and processes implemented onboard cruise ships to comply with these requirements are complex and sophisticated.
The term "en route" as utilized in MARPOL (73/78) Regulation 9 (b) is taken to mean while the vessel is underway. Conversations with U.S. Coast Guard, indicate that they also agree with this interpretation.
In accordance with MARPOL (73/78) Regnlation 20, every ship of 400 gross tonnage and above shall be provided with an oil record book which shall be completed on each occasion whenever any of numerous specified operations take place in the ship. For all ships, these operations include:
a. Ballasting or cleaning of fuel oil tanks,
b. discharge of dirty ballast or cleaning water from the fuel oil tanks above,
c. disposal of oily residues,
d. and discharge of bilge water which accumulated in machinery spaces.
Requirements regarding the keeping of an Oil Record Book as well as the form of the Oil Record Book are also found in MARPOL and in U.S. Coast Guard regulations (33CFR151).
Industry Goal: To meet and exceed the international requirements for removing oil from bilge and wastewater prior to discharge.
Handling Method:
Process bilge and oily water residue prior to discharge to remove oil residues, such that oil content of the effluent is less than 15 ppm as specified by MARPOL Annex 1.
I. Glass, Cardboard Aluminum and Steel Cans
Discussion
Management of shipboard generated waste is a challenging issue for all ships at sea. This is true for cruise vessels, other commercial vessels, military ships, fishing vessels and recreational boats. Waste products in earlier days were made from natural materials and were mostly biodegradable. Today's packaging of food and other products presents new challenges for waste management. A large cruise ship today can carry over three thousand passengers and crew. Each day, an average cruise passenger will generate two pounds of dry trash and dispose of two bottles and two cans.
A strategy of source reduction, waste minimization and recycling has allowed the cruise industry to significantly reduce shipboard generated waste. To attain this, cruise ship operators are adopting a multifaceted strategy that begins with waste minimization to decrease waste from provisions brought onboard. This means purchasing in bulk, encouraging suppliers to utilize more efficient packaging, reusable packaging, and packaging materials that are more environmentally friendly-those that can be more easily disposed of or recycled. In fact, through this comprehensive strategy of source reduction, total waste on passenger vessels has been reduced by nearly half over the past ten years.
Another important component of the industry's waste reduction strategy is product or packaging recycling. Glass, aluminum, other metals, paper, wood and cardboard are, in most cases, recycled.
Industry Goal: To eliminate the disposal of MARPOL Annex V wastes into the marine environment through improved reuse and recycling opportunities.
Handling Method:
Handle in accordance with the above industry goal or otherwise comply with the strict requirements of MARPOL when in international waters.
J. Incinerator Ash
Discussion
Incinerator ash is not normally a hazardous waste. Through relatively straighiforward waste management strategies, items that would cause the ash to be hazardous are separated from the waste stream and handled according to accepted hazardous waste protocols. In general, source segregation for waste streams is one of the foundation stones for onboard waste management and is incorporated into the waste management manual required by MARPOL.
