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FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF weighed down with protracted procedures and are busy pursuing policies that are yet to yield results, the initiative to stall further deterioration of the environment starts and ends, with a mere initiation of correspondence. The aim of the article is to highlight the grim condition of water in our immediate environment, the ‘Harbours and Seas; and explore for solutions that could possibly be implemented to fruition. The core of the article would attempt to underscore the issue of raw garbage disposal and pumping of untreated sewage into harbour and at sea. Clear and Present Hazard Large portion of the allocated budget is spent by various agencies like the Municipal wards, conservancy staff of a plethora of organizations and industries to grapple with the issue of garbage and sewage disposal. However they remain way off the mark as regards to its effective implementation. A considerable part of this waste finds its way into the water bodies, harbours and adjoining sea. Worse, toxic chemicals used for a number of chemical processes are emptied into these water bodies without compunction, leading to large scale death of marine species. Trail of garbage neatly packed in black ‘gash bags’ and free floating rubbish emptied straight from trash bins is not an uncommon sight for seafarers. A large percentage of our fraternity serve onboard ships and on a conservative scale we produce plastic, domestic and food waste to the tune of 1.1-2.6 kg/ person/day, implying we hold great potential to ‘litter’ our water bodies and sea. Contrary to the ‘conventional’ wisdom, the sea has very limited capacity to assimilate the garbage that is emptied into it. In fact, most of it is belched out and deposited all along the shore and harbours in its original form. The time taken by the marine environment to disintegrate various materials is indicated in the following take:- Time taken for objects to dissolve Paper 2-4 weeks Cotton cloth 1-5 months Natural Rope 3-14 months Woollen cloth 1 year FFFFFFFFF SEPTEMBER 2010 Painted wood Tin can Aluminum can Plastics 13 years 100 years 200-500 years 450 years NAVAL DESPATCH Source: www.helmepa.org (Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association ) Apart from being an environmentalist’s nightmare, the litter is an aesthetic nuisance and stirs up repulsion in our esteemed tourists . The floating debris at sea and on beaches enfeebles the fragile marine ecology, while the greatest danger comes from the plastics which the fish and marine mammals mistake for food and eventually get entangled inextricably. Large fish have been discovered with plastic material lodged in their stomach. Collective Responsibility The Defence Services have been traditionally environment friendly and are known to be pioneers in pursuing practices that have protected and preserved local flora and fauna to a large extent. A cursory glance at the cantonments and defence residential areas corroborates this fact well enough. In addition, services are closely intertwined with the nature due to obvious reasons. Taking this axiom forward, aligning our practices with regards to garbage and sewage disposal as closely as possible to the accepted norms (MARPOL 73/78) may set the motion for others to follow suit. Garbage Disposal Onboard Ships and MARPOL 73/78 International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 and modified by the Protocol of 1978 or in short MARPOL 73/78 lays down stipulation for dealing with waste generated by ships so as to minimize its effect on marine ecology. Annexure-V of this protocol which entered into force on 31 Dec 1998 prescribes methods of garbage disposal in Special areas and, areas outside special areas. Special areas like the Baltic and Mediterranean sea are designated owing to their delicate ecology and oceanography. Most of our ships operate in outside special areas with the exception to those on Over Seas Deployment. FFFFFFFFF 41
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Regulations Studying the extant regulations of MARPOL 73/78 Annexure V would serve the readers well and substantiate the fact that these stipulations are not very stringent to emulate and with a little stimulus by the institution and commitment by personnel, the desired standards can be achieved. • Disposal of all plastics, synthetic ropes, plastic garbage bags and heavy metal residues is prohibited. • Disposal of garbage like packing material that can float is prohibited in areas less than 25 Nm from nearest land. • Disposal of food waste, paper products , rags , glass, metal , bottles is prohibited in areas less than 12 Nm from nearest land. • Garbage like packing material, food waste, paper products , rags , glass, metal and bottles can be discharged in to sea in areas more than 3 Nm from nearest land provided the trash has been pulverized in a grinder and can pass through an overboard discharge of diameter not more 25 mm. • Every ship more than 12 meter in length shall display placards notifying and educating the crew about the garbage handling methodology onboard. • Every ship more than 400 tons and every ship certified to carry more than 15 persons shall have a garbage management plan for collecting, storing , processing and disposing garbage. The ship shall designate a responsible person to execute the plan and shall have a Garbage Record Book. Possible Solutions The enormous amount of floating debris in harbours and in contiguous sea should have instigated positive and stern measures by the stakeholders to enforce urgent remedial steps to resuscitate the already grim situation. The present state does not bode well for the health of our men, machinery and the living species dependent on these waters. Clogging of sea water suction inlets of critical machinery by floating debris predominantly by plastics, accumulation of sludge and putrefied water in sea water lines of fire hydrants is more than a common phenomena which can gravely upset the ‘overall scheme of things’. The following are the suggested remedial measures :- • Segregation of Bio and Non-Bio degradable waste at source and allocating separate stowage containers both at sea and in harbour. • Sequestering hazardous material like glass wool (extensively used onboard ships as insulators), discarded dry cells and electrical equipment, lubes and oils , Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) , materials likely to contain toxic metals like Arsenic, lead , mercury, copper etc . • Dry and non biodegradable garbage should be disposed off at shore reception facility only. • Large amount of waste paper is generated by shredding of classified publications and routine correspondence. It is an environmental hazard to burn them in the open, instead we could recycle the shredded mass, if no serious compromise of security is envisaged. • Ships that routinely spend number of days at sea practically cannot accumulate large amount of garbage waiting for disposal in the next port of call. Installing incinerators and grinders (for pulverising solid waste) onboard ships of all types to dispose solid trash and food material that can putrefy is a viable solution. Equipment commercially known as 'Crushers' , that can compress the volume of recyclable waste like metals, paper boards, packing material provide an ideal solution to circumvent the problem of voluminous solid waste. Garbage Management Plan The operating premise onboard ships for handling garbage should be “nothing leaves the ship untreated and without passing the scrutiny of garbage FFFFFFFFF SEPTEMBER 2010 FFFFFFFFF42
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