Ocean Trash And Junk

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by Lynx

Does anybody know what cities in the world does not have a dump and take their trash to the sea to dump?

Does New York City still do it?

How does this compare to the boaters?

Hello Lynx,

Hong Kong for years has dumped her rubbish into the South China Sea , despite spending millions on landfills and incinerators.

Every single day (except typhoon days) there will be a procession of barges towed by tugs making their way out south east of the "Nine Pins" the contents are dumped and the barges return for more.

It is not possible to compare the waste that turns up in the coast waters of China with waste that yachts deliberately chuck into the sea.

But registered vessels in Hong Kong waters number many thousands.

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by atavist

On www.rozsavage.com her latest blog mentions "the pacific garbage patch"... interesting... maybe this isn't as random (the occasional small patch) as we think

Anywhere, where two bodies of water meet, you get a collection of "junk". This is not just man-made junk but also you will find such things as branches or even entire trees floating in this area.

Aye,

Stephen

[Charlie Jones]

From the link I used before, here's a link to the graphic on the Pacific "garbage patch"

http://beachcombersalert.org/images/...s_OSCURS_1.jpg

[Roserita]

WOW! I am over whelmed at the responses. I need time to digest this before responding to all.

I like this cruising site, very much. I just have not had the time lately, to visit.

It appears my sailing date, was correct.

Rosé Rita

[redbopeep]

Yes, what to do with garbage has certainly changed over the years. When I was a kid we had an incinerator out back. Many city houses built pre-wwII also have incinerators in them. Common way of dealing with trash. Also, when I was a kid, we took the coke bottles back to the grocery to get our deposits back. Remember how all the old bottles looked dinged and scratched when you bought coke you knew that the bottle had been reused many times. Now, though recycling is demanded in the USA, its hard to find a recycling center. Everything is shiny, new, clean. Everything is packaged with so much extra "package" that it makes no sense.

For good grief, every apple has a sticker on it! The meats in the meat department have those foamy bottoms, a little foamy paper to collect the juices and is covered in plastic. What happened to the days/times of paper wrapping the meat? Ah, we're so much better off now?

I have heard of cruiser with garbage disposals--I guess to compact the trash enough that it is easier to store until they get back to shore. My husband (who spent years in the US Navy which used to dump trash in the oceans...) says he thinks they just compact it so it will sink faster

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by redbopeep

. My husband (who spent years in the US Navy which used to dump trash in the oceans...) says he thinks they just compact it so it will sink faster

According to international agreement, ports are to provide free of charge services for garbage and bilge (oily water) disposal. According to my knowledge, only the Swedish port of Gothenburg provides this service and they require 24 hours notice.

Aye

Stephen

[Lighthouse]

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

[imagine2frolic]

So is there a garbage patch of the Atlantic, or any other sea?

[Swagman]

It is a fact most of the floating rubbish will be pushed by prevailing winds and currents until it hits shore somewhere. So the concept of floating rubbish hitting a contra current and turning around is not so hard to believe.

Certainly in the eastern Med, up in the corner basically formed by Turkey / Syria, one needs to maintain a 24 hour 'rubbish watch' when sailing to avoid junk in the water. Mostly plastic - and some sheets that are huge. Most of those must have been blown off shoreside greenhouses further west - and last year some pals picked up one over 100 metres long on their prop. It welded itself around the shaft with friction, and was v.hard to remove.

But what is sadder is my belief that lots of global rubbish is generated by us.

I used to always think of fisherman when seeing smaller plastic wrap etc.

But just within this past month we've seen a lot of new yachts arrive in our current harbour - and the amount of floating crap has expanded expotentially..........a real shame.

JOHN

[imagine2frolic]

We were once stopped dead by a huge net between the Northwest CHannel, and Nassau. Took us an hour to free the prop. We were lucky there wasn't a breath of wind, so the Tongue of the Ocean was extremely flat. Picture is in the gallery

[svtadpole]

Here's my two-pennies-worth :

If less than 3 miles offshore nothing gets thrown/pumped overboard ... my one exception, being a keen fisherman & fish eater, is regarding food scraps/leftovers & veg/fruit trimmings, such material is chopped up & cast overboard as fish attractant/groundbait ... no harm in this since it is biodegradable.

When more than 3 miles out then I dispose of my garbage as follows :

Metal & glass, such as empty cans & pickle jars, overboard & made to sink not float.

Food scraps, paper & anything else biodegradeable goes overboard.

Plastic items are always retained on board then disposed of when next going ashore.

Sometimes, in an impish mood, it tickles me to launch a message-in-a-bottle ...

[Steady Hand]

This is an old topic, but one that resonates with me.

The OP mentions the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific.

I have seen this with my own eyes while sailing slowly through it for several days.

It was astounding to see this. And VERY saddening.

It was disgusting to see the plastic trash of all kinds floating on the surface and just below the surface. Everywhere as far as the eye could see in all directions for miles and miles!

It was a sight I will never forget. It was so striking that it made me swear off using plastic bags and made a renewal of my feelings about recycling plastic easy. I am no environmentalist, but seeing this huge area of trash on the "pristine" ocean I was crossing was truly saddening.

As we were sailing slowly due to light winds, I had ample time to look over the side watching the junk float by us. It was dense (lots of trash in every square meter) and everywhere.

It was also evident that it was not just something that had been recently dumped by a big ship. It was a mix of old and relatively new. Some had marine growth on it.

But, it was the immense size of it that astounded me. It covered a HUGE area and we were just cutting through it. Hard to imagine how immense this is.

Don't doubt it. This place (junk) exists.

[piclarke]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

This is an old topic, but one that resonates with me.

The OP mentions the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific.

I have seen this with my own eyes while sailing slowly through it for several days.

It was astounding to see this. And VERY saddening.

It was disgusting to see the plastic trash of all kinds floating on the surface and just below the surface. Everywhere as far as the eye could see in all directions for miles and miles!

It was a sight I will never forget. It was so striking that it made me swear off using plastic bags and made a renewal of my feelings about recycling plastic easy. I am no environmentalist, but seeing this huge area of trash on the "pristine" ocean I was crossing was truly saddening.

As we were sailing slowly due to light winds, I had ample time to look over the side watching the junk float by us. It was dense (lots of trash in every square meter) and everywhere.

It was also evident that it was not just something that had been recently dumped by a big ship. It was a mix of old and relatively new. Some had marine growth on it.

But, it was the immense size of it that astounded me. It covered a HUGE area and we were just cutting through it. Hard to imagine how immense this is.

Don't doubt it. This place (junk) exists.

The latest reports state 80% is from land so 19.7 % is from commercial shipping and very little from cruising yachtsman.

What can we all do.

Read link Page

Time for all cities to follow Singapore city with a litter instant fine for littering. $200.

The instant thing that you notice when walking the Singapore streets, does not take long to register. No litter, no wrappings, no plastic drink bottles, no Mac Donald's garbage, no disposable coffee cups, no cigarette packets or butts , and the thing that really impressed me was No used chewing gum on the foot paths plus No graffiti. Truly amazing and achievable. They have achieved what people and councillors think is impossible.

I was lucky my host warned me.

He told me you will not see them.

How many wardens they had, I did not think to ask but I suspect plain unidentifiable wardens with ID.