How much trash...

[phillippeterson]

How much trash do long distance cruisers bring back to the dock?

I guess I'm really asking "how much and what kind of trash do you throw overboard?"

 

[Benthic2]

Source: https://www.boatus.org/study-guide/environment/laws/

 

[Giggitoni]

100% back. Nothing goes overboard.

 

[kthoennes]

100% back. Nothing goes overboard.

Yeah, same here. Not worth the time and trouble separating and tossing some types overboard (even when we legally could) and bagging the rest. Except for food scraps or organic/compost kind of stuff -- peels, pits, grape stems, peanut shells -- we "save" everything for disposal on shore. I suppose it also depends on what you mean by "long distance" -- I suppose if I were on a tiny sailboat doing a transatlantic that might be different, but with our size boats even out for days at a time, there's no need to mess around with it. Just bag it all.

(I remember on some sailing forum there was a great debate about paper plates, and whether you could toss them. Waxed, not waxed, biodegrade rates, etc. Either way, I don't want somebody's paper plates drifting past my boat or washing up on the beach, that's gross.

 

[rslifkin]

It all comes back for us as well. Only thing that may go overboard are fruit pitts or strawberry tops depending on where we are.

 

[Marco Flamingo]

Apple cores and banana peels might go overboard on a long "no marina" cruise. Clam shells. Maybe a soup bone. Can't think of much else. We think about garbage before we take stuff on board, sometimes even at the grocery store. I do a lot of home canning so many meals involve washing out a jar with the dishes with no cans or other garbage involved. We "Seal a Meal" lots of dry items in 2 person amounts and leave the original packaging ashore. These vaccum bagged pouches can literaly be kept in the bilge and the empty plastic pouches can be reused.

 

[kthoennes]

Yes, that too -- after a shopping/provisioning trip we strip and toss a lot of packaging before we load up the dock cart. King of ridiculous all the unnecessary outer packaging.

 

[twistedtree]

Like others, we start by stripping away the packaging as things come on board. It's amazing how much trash is produced from a shopping trip.


Then once underway, small food scraps go overboard, but nothing that's going to be floating around like banana peels. The regs say ground to 1" or less, and we pretty much follow that. Then trash goes through a compactor, but we make sure that only dry trash goes in there. Otherwise you end up with a soggy festering mess. We have come ashore after a month out and only had one big trash bag. I think the real key it not taking it all aboard in the first place.

 

[Dougcole]

Yes, that too -- after a shopping/provisioning trip we strip and toss a lot of packaging before we load up the dock cart. King of ridiculous all the unnecessary outer packaging.

Totally agree. It's disgusting how much extraneous packaging goes into the landfill/ocean.


We do the same, only toss organic material (food waste) and not all of that. For our month long Bahamas trips we even bring the aluminum cans (I seem to create quite a few of those) back with us since the Bahamas does not recycle.


Kind of related. I had our dog ashore in a grassy area near a marina, she pooped (she's a big dog, 90 lbs) and I was about to pick it up and throw it away using a reused grocery bag. The marina manager walked by and told me to just push it over into the flower bed. "We need all the soil we can get here. And if you put it in the garbage can the plastic bag will just get burned or dumped at sea. Best thing to do is to leave it."



I'd never thought of it that way, so that is what I do now. I move it to an out of the way place (if it is not already in one) and leave it. At least in the Bahamas.

 

[janice142]

I collect a few laundry detergent jugs to use for trash. A lot can be crammed in one. When coming ashore most marinas have not objected to me tossing a couple jugs in their dumpster.

Like others I get rid of extraneous packaging.

When in an area with good water flow, food scraps that sink go over the side. I do knock on the hull three times. This indicates to the fish that something is coming. Call it my chum signal.

As a side note when utilizing detergent jugs, I cut out the spout so I have a nice clear hole. I can fill one in about a week...