Environmental Issues

There are three types of waste water: bilge water, black water (or sewage) and grey water.
Bilge water is oily engine run-off and condensation that collects in the bilge, a compartment at the bottom of a vessel's hull where water is collected and later pumped out. Grey water comes from showers and sinks. Black water, perhaps the most damaging to the environment, comes from the toilets and from the drains and sinks of the medical center. When water is treated to reduce its oil content below 15 parts of oil per million parts of water, international law allows it to be discharged virtually anywhere.

Few accidents have happened, and most cruise ships' environ­mental standards meet or surpass all international laws; the cruise industry represents only 0.2 percent of all ocean-going vessels worldwide.

Cruise ship owners are working towards stricter emission limits for particulate matter and sulfur oxides, and reducing nitrogen oxide levels (compared to existing emissions levels) that will probably be imposed within the next few years. Older engines (those built before January 1, 2000) will be required to achieve a 20% reduction in nitrogen oxides starting in 2010.

The latest generation of propulsion machinery (engines) is, how­ever, much more fuel efficient than older ships. For example, RCI’s Freedom-class ships are 10% more fuel efficient than the Voyager-class ships, and, when introduced in 2009, the Genesis-class ships will be 15% more fuel efficient than the Freedom-class ships.

In the past 10 years, cruise ships have spent huge sums of money in new technology; the result is that waste and garbage has been almost cut in half, while sustaining cruise capacity growth just approaching around eight percent annually. The latest hull coatings increase fuel efficiency; the coating, which reduces surface resistance in the water, is completely non-toxic. Many large resort ships now have environmental officers on board to oversee compliance with environmental regu­lations and requirements.

Cruise lines reduce the solid waste they generate by purchasing in bulk, encouraging suppliers to use more efficient packaging, reusing packaging when possible and packaging more environmentally friendly materials. Other examples:

• Advanced purification systems treat all onboard wastewater.
• Ships actively recycle glass, metals, wood, cardboard and paper.
• Excess heat generated in the ships' engine boilers is rerouted to power evaporators used in the process of turning sea water into potable water.
• Special high-tech compactors process garbage (the one aboard Queen Mary 2, for example, is four decks high).
• Dry cleaning machines now use non-hazardous detergents formulated with soy, banana and orange extracts.
• Materials printed on board can now be produced using soy-based inks.
• Some ships "plug in" to clean, local hydroelectric when they dock in ports cities such as Seattle and Juneau.
• The only solid waste discharged to sea is food waste, considered safe because, either animals consume it or natural elements break it down in the water. And some use only seafood farmed from sustainable sources. NCL and NCL America ships offload their used cooking oil for recycling to bio-diesel.

What You Can Do To Help
Specially marked containers are scattered throughout each ship for you to use.

See menu (at left) for more valuable info from the Berlitz Guide available on Seasite.com.

		Berlitz 2010 Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships

---

Berlitz Ocean Cruising & Cruise Ships 2009 by Douglas Ward © Apa Publications 2008-2009 www.berlitzpublishing.com

Berlitz Trademarak Reg.US Patent Office and other countries. MarcaRegistrada. Property of Berlitz Investment corporation and used under license by Apa Publications GmbH & Co. Verlag KG, Singapore Branch