FTV 2/1/12 Managing all that Trash

After visiting Guayaquil, Ecuador conservation areas, it makes you want to protect these precious ecosystems even more. While onboard the T.S. Kennedy we do the best we can to help the environment. Every day our trash is sorted into different categories for plastics, paper, rags, metals, glass, food waste, and bio hazard waste. In the mess deck we have three barrels for plastics, paper, and food waste. Obviously, we want to protect our oceans so when we are 3 nautical miles from the nearest point of land we are allowed to throw the food waste overboard. At 12 nautical miles we can throw paper overboard.

At sea, all ships abide by MARPOL (Maritime Pollution) which are the regulations regarding dumping waste over board. Everything that cannot be dumped is offloaded while we are in port. Chief Mate Ford is assisted by the Marine Safety and Environmental Protection Cadets and supervises discharge into the sea. He also keeps a Waste Management Log to document everything that is dumped overboard.

In addition to managing our trash waste we also must manage our sewage. It is very important that our ships sewage waster does not hurt the ecosystems in the ocean environment. Before dumping the sewage from our toilets, it must be processed in our MSD systems to kill bacteria before it is returned to the sea, when we are in port the treated wasted is pumped out into waste containers.

If everyone onboard does their part in contributing to waste management, our impact on the environment will be greatly reduced. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Try this trash math challenge

Graphing Trash- Are We a Throw-Away Society?