All that ship!

Cruise ships are one of the many marvels of the modern era. At first look they are essentially massive floating hotels but past that, they are so much more, many of these ships play host to a wide array of different locations and activities to partake in. Such locations include everything from casinos and top-notch restaurants to relaxing pools and world-class spas. However, while actually partaking on a cruise is an amazing experience, how these massive vessels operate is an amazing feat itself.

Depending on the length of the cruise and how many travellers are on board, these ships generate an immense amount of waste. In fact,  for a typical 7-day cruise (which is about average length) up to 28,000 of waste can be generated – and that’s one ship alone. When you factor in that there are a large amount of cruises operating at any given time the amount of waste builds up very quickly. So then, where does all of this waste actually go?

There are many different ways that this waste is processed and later deposited and it all depends on the cruise line’s policies. One common procedure is for the ship to collect all of the waste in a massive depository where it is then dried and burned. Again, depending on the ship, the burned waste will either be dumped into the ocean or sent ashore for disposal.

On the other hand, some cruise lines opt for processing the waste before dumping it into the ocean or otherwise disposing of it. Bigger, more sophisticated ships have been known to have full waste treatment plants aboard which makes it very easy for them to process the waste and then funnel it into the ocean. However, smaller ships are forced to collect the waste until they are in port where it will be siphoned off of the ship, treated by a third party and either deposited back into the ocean or turned into commercial products such as fertilizer.

In rare cases, ships have been known to dump untreated waste directly into the ocean. If performed 12 miles offshore, this is completely legal in most jurisdictions but is frowned on by some governments. At various locations around the world, dumping untreated sewage into the ocean is forbidden. While this may not seem like the most environmentally friendly way of disposing of sewage, it is by far the cheapest.

With so much waste being generated on a daily basis, removing it is a very technical projected. Cruise lines who opt for a more environmentally friendly solution are subjected to highly sophisticated systems to burn the waste, process it or store it until they return to port and hand it off to a third party company. However, in some cases, untreated waste is also deposited into the ocean when allowed by law in a massive cost saving measure.