Incinerator for Garbage

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by nigel1

Shame is, some 20 years after the MAROL garbage regulations came into force, many ports still lack facilities for disposal, let alone re-cycling.

And that is indeed an issue. Lot's of things, including plastics and waste oil, leave us in the position of taking a 'least bad' decision. Sometimes burning on the beach is the best of a number of poor choices.

[Lancerbye]

Having seen the way garbage is handled in third world countries has somewhat changed my view of garbage disposal. I like the idea of the incinerator.

[wsmurdoch]

I know it is an old thread, but the title fits and this is the conversation that got me thinking. This is our sixth year of cruising the Bahamas. There were times when we were away from garbage disposal for weeks, and even when we could take it ashore to "proper" facilities, it was eventually burned in open pits. In fact, one of the constant smells of Bahamas settlements was burning garbage.

I stuck one of those charcoal briquette starter chimney things (you know; sheet steel tube, wooden handle on the side, punched metal grate in the bottom (WalMart maybe $10) on the boat before we left this year. I put a circle of 1/2" hardware cloth in the bottom over its punched metal grate to make the holes smaller. Twice I have burned our paper, cardboard, and plastic trash in the thing while it sat in our stern mount Magma propane grill with the cooking grate removed. At anchor with a light breeze, started with the grill's propane, fed slowly in small pieces, it worked fine.

A few lessons learned... With the gas left on, all the O2 was consumed by the propane and the trash barely burned. With the trash fed too rapidly, the unburned stuff choked off the air coming up the chimney and put out the fire. It was best to take the tops off the PET tonic bottles. Mixing plastic and paper kept the plastic from dripping through the hardware cloth and punched metal grate in the fire starter. The resulting ash was easily dumped from the fire starter into a plastic bag and stored in a jar for that later proper ashore disposal with the glass and steel. (Aluminum we crush and save for recycling.) The little ash and few plastic drips that ended up in the grill were easily blown and brushed out.

[nigel1]

Without having to read through MARPOL again, I'm 99% certain it applies to all ships/craft.
We can only use a type approved incinerator, and this burns at about 800 centigrade, it has to be smokeless, and there are certain plastics which are prohibited from burning. We dont bother burning plastic as it makes a real mess of the flue
Burning at lower temps contributes to air pollution, and if you burn plastic, you have to retain the ashes for proper disposal ashore (land fill I guess)
I really do sympathice with the problems regarding waste disposal, but just because it gets burned ashore does not give us license to burn garbage on the barbi.
I have vivid memories of paying to have garbage removed from the ship in Onne Nigeria, it was put in a truck, truck drove about two hundred yards down the dock, and then they threw the garbage in the river, but what can you do??

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by nigel1

I have vivid memories of paying to have garbage removed from the ship in Onne Nigeria, it was put in a truck, truck drove about two hundred yards down the dock, and then they threw the garbage in the river, but what can you do??

Oh Jesus, that is horrible! Haha. Does anyone know of something you can put on plastic to make it malleable? it seems like the problem with plastic on a boat is that it is bulky and cumbersome and if you could melt it down to a smaller size and store it until you get ashore then that would be a good option.

[daddle]

Why does the plastic need to be smaller after use? You were presumably able to store it prior to use, and the quantity does not increase during a voyage, right?

Rinse and crush is the policy here. And avoid buying plastic bottles if possible. Dispose at the next possibility. Incinerating aboard seems like a messy complication.

Here in the PI where cost is an important consideration many things which are heavily packaged for westerners fussy lifestyles come in simple bags or pouches. The minimal waste is easy to store. However a liter of cooking oil in a frail plastic bag is a bit scary ... no disasters yet.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by lorenzo b

Another great response

Hi Lorenzo,
on Diesel Duck we carry a small shovel and used it, when their is no
possibility to dispose garbage on shore in the proper way. We sort the
garbage, metal cans get thrown over board, out in the deep water, with the
bottom cut open or holes punched into. Food leftovers go over the side aswell,
but not in a anchorage with zillion fellow boaters in it.
Burnable goods, like plastic, paper towels, rags, old engine oil, cardboard
containers and Tetrapaks container( for milk, wine, juice etc.) we take to
shore in the dinghi at remote islands of the San Blas, Bahamas, Turks and
Caicos, Aves, Los Rogues etc. We select a good spot up on the beach, take in
consideration where the wind blows from, if any. Aswell the spot shall not put
the island on fire, if wind comes up !!!! With the shovel we dig a good hole.
While I do this in preparing the burning site, Marlene (my wife) combs the
beach, collecting zillions of plastic bottles, which the sea has swept on,
driftwood, styrofaom bits, you name it, it's there! While I have prepared the
burnside like a good old camp fire, I use as fire starter the old engine oil,
it does a tremendous job. We guard the fire and keep it feeding with driftwood
and a good ratio of plastic bottles. (please make shure of the bottles being
open, they can shoot or blow up!!
Especially drifted on, old plastic engine oil containers with rest-oil in
it). The dinghi bailer with seawater in it, is allways close by to play Fire
Department if needed.
Later on, after the fire has burned out and is soaked with seawater, I use the
shovel to close the hole using plenty of sand. You would not even know, there
was garbage burnt, when walking by.
regards, Benno + Marlene

That's a perfect example of how to do as little harm as possible given the cirucmstances.
We did exactly that while cruising Mexico.

"Greenies" let's see your better OVERALL results.

The USA is trying to be green with ethanol.
Only problem is that it takes more than a gallon of petrol to produce a gallon of ethanol which has LESS energy while causing starvation and higher food prices.
Truly a "duh" moment.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by NativeUSAindian

Yap not a good ideal those poor fish get stuck in the garbage like a cat gets it head stuck in a jar.

I thought all libs believed in Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" i.e not the stupid fish who stuck their heads into jars...

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by daddle

Here in the PI where cost is an important consideration many things which are heavily packaged for westerners fussy lifestyles come in simple bags or pouches. The minimal waste is easy to store. However a liter of cooking oil in a frail plastic bag is a bit scary ... no disasters yet.

I miss SE Asia, breakfast in a bag! I wish to God we could do away completely with plastic. We usually just pre-cycle everything before it gets on the boat. We have tons of glass jars that we put everything in and take the plastic right to the recycle center. Its such a wasteful mess.

I will say this: in The States most of our plastic ends up in landfill or recycle center. In the Philippines it ends up on the beach and in the gutters!