What do you know about hazardous waste?: Cruise Ship Waste

Italian Shipwreck Updates:

There have been 15 bodies found with 17 or more missing. It was recently discovered that there were unregistered passengers and the death toll may be more than that. Every day technicians from the Tuscan Regional Agency for Environmental Protection are testing around the ship for signs of water pollution. So far there have been no critical signs except for a small amount of detergents and disinfectants. It doesn't sound like weather has been a big issue and hopefully they will have a safe time removing the oil from the huge liner. Italy is standing up for their surrounding ecosystems as many environmental groups are raising the bar for reformation. One of Italy's largest environmental groups is called Italia Nostra (Our Italy), which sent an appeal to the president, Giorgio Napolitano, this last week. They asked that large cruise ships be prohibited from taking tourists to the Lagoon of Venice because they produce a lot of harmful waste and fumes.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/285237/20120120/costa-concordia-oil-spill-disaster-italy-maritime.htm

Preparations have been made to start pumping the oil, but the actual removal of this crude oil from the ship's 17 fuel tanks will take nearly a month. The captain of the ship is still being charged with the death of those on the ship from his poor judgement and abandoning the ship before all was safe. According to Meichtry (Europe News Jan 26), Captain Schettino waited more than an hour after crashing to tell the passengers to evacuate, when it is a well known fact that one should call the Coast Guard as soon as possible for rescue to be on it's way. When he did finally call the Coast Guard he did it in short calls first saying it was only a blackout and later saying that it was only flooded in one compartment and would not be a serious problem. Then another call from the captain said the situation was under control and finally after almost an hour after the incident he admitted they would abandon ship. Possibly more lives could have been saved if that hour wasn't lost.

More Updates at Italian Shipreck and Italian Liner. More on the settlements of the case at Ship's Operator.

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/articles/cruise-pollution-1/

On another note about cruise ships in general and their hazards. According to Colman (Feb 18, 2010) cruise ships are a perfect place for germs and that in Winter of 2002, the norovirus (harm the stomach and intestines) affected hundreds of passengers on Holland America, Disney and Carnival liners. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that even in 2009 there were at least 15 cruise ship outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness. Most are not that serious, but what is serious is the fact that cruise ships are not required to have permits to dump raw sewage into the oceans or even to report what and where they release as well as take action to clean it up. The following is a quote from Oceana.org's U.S. Laws and Regulations:

Sewage

The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates about 30,000 gallons of human waste and 255,000 gallons of non-sewage gray water every day.

Cruise ships are allowed to release treated sewage almost anywhere they sail. They are also permitted to release untreated gray water—non-sewage wastewater from galleys, dishwashers, baths, sinks, showers, and laundries—anywhere they sail, except Alaska. Cruise ships can also lawfully release untreated sewage, or black water, anywhere beyond three miles from the shore (except in certain areas of Alaska). Cruise ships are required to have onboard waste treatment systems, known as marine sanitation devices (MSDs), the industry is required to keep logbooks of their discharges, but are not required to monitor the quality of the waters into which they routinely dump their waste.

That is disgusting and I am sure most of you never heard of this before because I had never even considered the possibility. It is not only sewage that gets dumped but also solid waste such as garbage, plastic, and toxic chemicals from activities on board such as paint, cleaners, etc. Another problem we can imagine is air pollution. I knew that when I traveled to Taiwan and Thailand that flying in the various airplanes would create a lot of pollution and ships do the same. We transport so many goods to and from continents with the aid of huge boats and which are major sources of air pollution today. According to Oceana.org, "over 90% of world trade is carried across the world's oceans" by 90,000 or more ships, which causes a significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15125

The EPA has done a lot recently to combat this problem. Even last year they created the No Discharge Zone in California, which has done much to save the marine life in that area. Alaska has many laws against dumping. We are getting close, but not nearly enough to be safe from all damage caused by shipping industries. The EPA has also helped to improve the Hazardous Waste Tracking System made under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).