Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Trash & Garbage Management - Part 1

Managing trash on a boat – especially if you are on a longish cruise – is a major issue. Even if you are out for the weekend or the day, dragging a big black plastic bag of trash and garbage to the dumpster is never a good feeling. Here are a few thoughts for reducing the size of that bag. A lot of these ideas are ones that many of us use at home but when we get to the boat, all those good practices seem to be pushed aside.

1. Try to minimize individual drink bottles. There are pros and cons to plastic and glass, but they all take up space on the boat and, even if most are recycled, some still end up in the landfill. Fill one gallon jug with triple filtered boat water, add five teabags and lash it to the mast every morning for a constant supply of solar tea. Step it up by adding slices of fruit.

2. Assign every crew member a “water bottle” with his/her name on it. They can be used for all kinds of drinks – maybe even cocktails. They don’t spill, and don’t fill up the sink or the trash bin. The options include Lexan plastic bottles (i.e. Nalgene in the $10 range) or higher-end customizable SIGG (Swiss Engineered Water Bottles) for about $20 that offer 144 bottle designs with a choice of 22 lids – they have light-weight aluminum exteriors with a secret formula liner.

3. Label disposable drink glasses with each crew members’ name so they can be reused for a couple days before tossing. A fine point permanent marker works well.

4. -Keep reusable Shopping bags - string and canvas -- on the boat and tuck one in your pocket when heading ashore – or take a whole raft if it’s a big provisioning run. The smaller net bags work well for produce and several can be loaded into the larger cotton ones. You could even up the ante one more notch by looking for organic cotton bags. In any event, try not to bring paper bags or cardboard boxes onto the boat – they not only fill up the garbage bags but they also provide homes to a variety of small creatures.

Comments

[steef]

smart info

[Music Dissertation]

Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!