Publication date: 07/30/2024
Tips to avoid excessive waste on boats
To avoid polluting your surroundings when sailing, our first piece of advice is to pack only the essentials. Before leaving one of our ports or elsewhere, make sure you separate yourself from anything optional. Whenever possible, remove the packaging from the products you’re taking on board! Even if unintentionally, paper, cardboard, aluminium and plastic waste are the first things to “go overboard” or “fall into the water” when we go out to sea. Whether it’s a wave or the wind, from the cockpit or the deck…
On board, packaging of all kinds takes up a lot of space, in a restricted environment where it’s often pointless to take on too much. Packing management is easy enough when you’re on a boat for a few hours or a day, but it’s even more essential when you’re sailing for several weeks without touching land: it will also enable you to avoid taking on stowaways, such as larvae or undesirable insects, which can hide in the corrugations of the cardboard.
When it comes to provisioning, certain choices can make all the difference: when it comes to drinking water, for example, taking on board a large reusable water can, several liters in size, will be easier to manage on board than a multitude of single-use 0.75-liter or 1-liter bottles. We also recommend that you avoid the use of disposable cutlery and plates, in favor of conventional crockery. If it’s also unbreakable, you’ll be perfectly equipped!
Finally, before setting sail, remember to dispose of all on-board rubbish in the designated garbage cans ashore.
Sorting and storing waste until return to shore
It is unthinkable (and forbidden) to dispose of your garbage overboard. No matter how long you sail, you must keep all your waste on board! You won’t be able to get rid of it until you’ve made a stopover in a place offering selective collection, or until you’re back in port and benefiting from dedicated port facilities. In fact, all our Group’s marinas and harbours offer facilities adapted to the selective sorting of the various effluents specific to yachting.
Cardboard, plastic, metal, glass, but also oil, filters, dirty rags or paintbrushes… It’s essential to sort your garbage directly on board, so that you can deposit it in the various collection bins when you return. If necessary, depending on the space available on board, different containers can make the task easier.
There are a number of tricks you can use to store your waste intelligently on board your unit:
- Dedicate an appropriate space to each type of waste, such as an airy outdoor box.
- Fold, compress and compact cardboard, aluminium, plastic and wood waste to save space
- Rinse elements before storing to prevent the development of odors and bacteria
The discharge of plastic, cardboard, glass and metal is strictly forbidden by the MARPOL Convention, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. This applies in all circumstances – whether you’re underway or at anchor, and no matter how far offshore you are with your motorboat or sailboat.
Organic waste disposal: a regulated act
There is one exception, however, and that is waste that can, exceptionally, be disposed of at sea. This is the case with biodegradable organic waste, which can be discharged into the sea provided certain very specific conditions are met.
Thus, the MARPOL Convention authorizes the discharge of food remains from a ship in the following cases:
- When the ship is sailing in a “special zone”, i.e. in the North Sea, Red Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Greater Caribbean, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Antarctic or Baltic Sea, and is more than 12 nautical miles from the coast. In these specific cases, food waste can be discharged, provided it is ground and less than 25 millimeters in size.
- When the ship is outside a special zone, more than 3 nautical miles from the first shelter. In this case, food waste smaller than 25 millimeters in size may be discharged.
- When the vessel is en route outside a special zone, but is more than 12 nautical miles from the nearest coast. A boater may then throw overboard any biodegradable food waste larger than 25 millimeters.
You can only throw your food waste into the water if these conditions are met. Otherwise, as with cardboard, plastic, metal or glass, you’ll have to take it ashore.
A final word of advice: if you’re planning to sail to another country, be sure to take into account the conditions of entry into this new territory. The authorities are often required to collect organic waste on board to avoid any health risks in the country you are visiting.
On the return journey, deposit waste at the port
After a few hours or several days at sea, you’ll return to port with your sorted flows. Once you’re ready to disembark, you’ll head for the collection points set up in the port area, to deposit your various types of garbage.
Focus on the Port Napoléon “Clean Point”
In the south of France, at Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, the port of Port Napoléon is particularly committed to preserving the environment. As a member of the Port Adhoc network, the port is heavily involved in the “Ports Propres” certification process, to ensure proper waste management for its users.
At Port Napoléon, year-round yachtsmen benefit from a dedicated mooring area, either afloat or on dry land. Naturally, marina passengers stopping over for one or more nights can also take advantage of the space! On site, the area is easily accessible, and identified by “Clean Point” signage.
The “Point Propre” (Clean Point) area within the marina can be used to manage the various types of hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated by yachting. Here is a detailed list of the waste accepted and handled:
- Used oil, dirty cans and filters
- Soiled solids: rags, gloves, brushes, etc.
- Paints and sealants
- Bulbs and neon lights
- Aerosols
- Soiled fuels
- Bilge water
- Batteries
- Accumulators
- Electrical and electronic equipment
- Metals
- The wood
- Small fire extinguishers
Certain types of waste, such as explosives, pyrotechnics and distress flares, benefit from a special management circuit. Yachtsmen are required to return them to a chandlery, such as the Uship store in Port Napoléon.
Are you thinking of joining us, and wondering about the facilities and services available at the various ports in our network? We’re the people to talk to.
Contact the Port Adhoc team today, and get all the answers to your questions!
