SHIPBOARD SOLID WASTES

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

SHIPBOARD SOLID WASTE

Dumping garbage overboard is as old a tradition as sailing, but the U.S.
Navy, along with other major generators of maritime garbage, is under
pressure to reduce and treat its discharges. The General Accounting Office
recently released a report reviewing the Navy's progress and plans:
"Pollution Prevention: Chronology of Navy Ship Waste Processing
Equipment Development" (GAO/NSIAD-94-221FS, August, 1994). Here
is the report's summary:

 The Navy has proposed two plans since the passage of the Marine
Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987. In the Navy's 1987
Shipboard Solid and Plastics Waste Management Program Plan, the Navy
anticipated that it would take 11 years (until 1998) to develop, produce, and
install the processing equipment necessary to meet shipboard solid waste
discharge requirements. The equipment stipulated in the plan were a vertical
trash compactor, a solid waste pulper, and a plastics waste processor. In
1993, the Navy revised its plan. The revised plan eliminated the trash
compactor, added a metal/glass shredder, and retained the pulper and
plastics processor.

 Since the 1970's, the Navy has conducted research to develop
shipboard solid waste processing equipment. The Navy's first contract to
design a trash compactor was awarded in 1979. The Navy began
developing a pulper in 1985, a plastic processor in 1987, and a shredder in
1993. Development and production of the trash compactor were terminated
in 1993. Acquisition and installation of the pulper and shredder were
suspended in 1994. The Navy has several research projects underway for
destroying or treating shipboard wastes. These include plasma arc, pulsed
plasma arc, molten salt destruction, and ram-jet incineration projects.

 According to the Navy, from fiscal years 1979-93, it spent $26
million to research, develop, and produce waste processing equipment for
its Shipboard Solid and Plastics Waste Management Program. On
September 30, 1993, the Navy estimated that is program would cost $901
million for fiscal years 1992-99. This estimate will change because the
Navy made the estimate before the Congress extended the Navy's
compliance deadline from 1993 to 1998 and beyond. According to Navy
officials, the Navy is currently reconsidering the Shipboard Solid and
Plastics Waste Management Program and its cost.

(Single copies of all GAO reports are available free of charge. Note the
report title, date, and number, and call 202/512-6000 or fax 301/258-4066.)