Garbage

[thechadmiller]

Anybody have any nice solutions to the issue of where to keep a garbage can or how to keep your trash out of the way and secure from spilling everywhere? Specifically on a 22 Cruiser.

 

[Phil Barnes]

We usually keep it in the lazarette in a plastic bag and empty at every opportunity. Our longest trip using this approach has been about a month and it has worked out well enough. We also try to get rid of as much packaging as possible while on land, particularly after a shopping trip. An extra small cooler or tote with a good sealing lid can also be handy for additional storage, particularly if you are separating recycle from garbage. As you go north in B.C. some places allow free recycle while most charge per bag or per pound of garbage. Helps to have it separated if you can find the room.

 

[hardee]

Chad, I have a garbage receptacle, plastic, no lid, screwed to the inside of the left side door under the sink/Wallas counter. I keep plastic shopping bags there and collect my garbage, mostly plastic wrap stuff, there. That stuff compacts quite well, and is fairly clean. I don't have meat or food scraps aboard. Metal stuff, cans or lids go into a separate bag and that is usually aft in the combing tray under the gunnel. That keeps burnables and metal garbage separate. North of the Gulf Islands, you may have to pay to drop garbage, but some places will take burnables or recycle for free.

I have been out for a single 48 day stretch using this method and it has worked OK. I'm pretty careful about packaging that I take to start with.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[PaulNBriannaLynn]

A 5 gallon homer bucket under the sink is what we've always used. It takes up space, but it has a large capacity and its stable.. plus easy to remove to dump when the opportunity is there.

 

[Randall]

I don't have meat or food scraps aboard.

I have been out for a single 48 day stretch using this method

48 days with no food scraps. How do you manage that small miracle?


Randall

 

[Marco Flamingo]

I don't have meat or food scraps aboard.

I have been out for a single 48 day stretch using this method

48 days with no food scraps. How do you manage that small miracle?


Randall

I'd guess that the secret is injestion.

As noted, the best advice, especially on a CD 16, is to not take garbage on board in the first place. A lack of storage space on the 16 leads to less garbage. Also on the 16 things tend to get wet. Cardboard boxes are out. Tin cans are possible, but if left for long they rust and they remain bulky even when empty and rinsed out.

My go-to system is re-packaging or pre-packaging meals/ingredients in Seal-a-Meal type pouches. Once sealed, I snip a little slit on the side so that they can be opened without finding a knife or scissors. I don't tear the top completely off because that creates two pieces of garbage.

My "garbage can" is a ditty bag in the splash well. Unlike a plastic grocery bag, crows and gulls haven't been interested (so far). Good for 10 days with two people aboard. The system might be too "back packy" for some.

Mark

 

[hardee]

I don't have meat or food scraps aboard.

I have been out for a single 48 day stretch using this method

48 days with no food scraps. How do you manage that small miracle?


Randall

Well Randall, to start with I eat different than many folks. I don't use fridge or cooler, so that narrows the selection some. I use cabbage, peeling off the outside leaves and that keeps the head fresh. Same with onions. Most stuff comes out of the cardboard, leaving just the plastic or wax paper container. I use instant powdered potatoes, tuna foil packs, individual sized fruit/applesauce packs, Costco take and bake bread, and PB. I rarely have drinks from cans, and use Crystal light for drinking, out of small foil packets. I did use some Protein drinks but they make for more garbage, so I only use one every other day.

2 - 3 weeks food is easily carried and fits in a cardboard box under the table.

I didn't say I have no garbage. I do have some, mostly the plastic yogurt container and applesauce cups. Whenever I buy fuel I try and trade a small garbage bag, (plastic shopping bag size) for an ice cream bar or soda, consumed on site and left at the fuel dock.

Mostly it is a matter of thinking ahead regarding packaging and disposal.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Randall]

I understand differentiating garbage waste from food waste. But...eggshells, fruit peels, fish heads, chicken bones, onion peels, etc. I'm not sure I could avoid food waste entirely.

Randall

 

[hardee]

I understand differentiating garbage waste from food waste. But...eggshells, fruit peels, fish heads, chicken bones, onion peels, etc. I'm not sure I could avoid food waste entirely.

Randall

Well, NO eggs so now egg shells, Fruit: Plums; I eat the peels, and toss the pits overboard. Apples, eat all but the stem; other fruit is berries. Pits go overboard. No fish heads, no chicken. Onions, use from the outside, so no peels there either. It is less hard as you do it more. Not for everybody, but it works for me.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Larry H]

It is common for cruisers in remote areas to dump all food scraps over the side. The ocean quickly consumes food scraps. Fish are from the ocean so returning the scraps is a natural thing.

Garbage treatment changes with location. At a full service marina, all garbage can go up to the dumpster. The further you get from a full service marina, the more you have to change your plans. If you are remote enough, you can burn your paper and lightweight plastics.

That leaves cans, bottles, and plastic containers. Some people only keep the plastic containers, and let the ocean consume the rest.

If your conscience won't permit that, then wash out and store the metal, glass, and plastic containers until you get back to civilization.

In the Puget Sound area, there are plenty of dumpsters, in the outback areas of the Broughtons, there are none.