Cruise and number 2s. What REALLY happens with cruise waste?

Very occasionally you read an article in the press about how so and so cruise ship has dumped a large amount of waste at sea or has crashed into a reef causing damage.

Its not something that applies to one company more than another and most I’m sure have procedures in place that are foolproof. It must be hard however for any company to dispose of the aforementioned number 2s in an environmentally responsible way and still protect their, ahem.. bottom line.

One cruise company was recently fined in the 10s of millions for illegal dumping of waste and only then because they were caught. This was in the US where perhaps there is a bit more scrutiny on such things but you might be forgiven for wondering how this “problem” would be dealt with in countries where there aren’t any such concerns (or indeed the cash to police) for the well being of the Flippers and Nemos of the world?

In reality US law requires that cruise ships are only really allowed to dump waste water if they are within three nautical miles of shore. Outside of that basically anything goes from a legal sense and in truth a lot of cruise lines have technology which is multiple decades old when it comes to waste treatment technology. According to Friends of the earth 40 percent of ships use waste treatment technology that is over 35 years old, yes 35 years…..

Being devils advocate I would suggest that maybe the attitude is “what goes on at sea stays at sea” and maybe cruise companies will just cut corners and get away with what they can.

The reality is that what goes on at sea probably doesn’t really just stay there, which is a worrying thought for all you beach lovers out there, as well as the effect on marine life that dumping at sea causes.

In my opinion “take only pictures and leave only footprints” is a good maxim to live by but you go to a lot of beaches and destinations around the world where the tourism sector has made an indelible and not always positive mark on the culture of a place.

The good thing about cruises and cruise passengers is that they DONT turn places into Pattaya or Benidorm. In general passengers just drop in and out rather than colonizing a place and contribute massively to the local population of most places they go.

So this isn’t something that is restricted to the cruise industry, far from it but it’s fair to question where the responsibility lies for such things and as I am in the cruise industry maybe it should be asked, can the cruise industry as a whole do more?

What is the answer? Well maybe the answer is in the ports and infrastructure that ships dock at, especially at ports in the developing world. Maybe more investment is needed in technology for waste management on the ships themselves as well.

Some 3rd world countries must be crying out for waste treatment facilities, why don’t cruise companies pool together to invest in these in port (or near) and also research and development into more efficient ways to manage waste disposal? This way they could perhaps even give back to local communities and have a place to safely dump and treat the waste that has been produced, whilst improving the quality of life in some of the worlds poorer regions that will do anything to encourage tourism at any cost sometimes.st

Kamala Beach Phuket

Maybe some of these suggested solutions are naive, the reality is the lathing most people want to see when they arrive on holiday is a massive great waste treatment plant so that’s part of the dilemma, how to do this and not effect peoples holiday experience and value.

So perhaps it comes down to the research and development side of things and frankly, just a will to invest in this and recognize this as a problem.

Some of the best destinations in the world are islands and I’ve seen a few and these are all places that have almost completely relied on the sea throughout their history for trade, food and their general culture and way of life, as well as tourism only more recently. Tahiti, the Isle of Pines, Koh Samui, Phuket, even little Stewart island at the bottom of New Zealand are beautiful islands I have been to which just wouldn’t be popular if the sea around them was polluted like a seaside reconstruction of industrial revolution era London.

Maybe the tourism industry in general could do more to protect these sometimes incredibly fragile environments so that future generations can go and see them in all their glory too and maybe cruise companies can lead the way in this.