Royal plan to eliminate plastic

[Milwaukee Eight]

What they are trying to do is find and promote alternatives to all the things mentioned by other posters. In many cases a paper or wood product can be used. The amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean is enormous.

 

 

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We have a popular local amphitheater here that now has water in cardboard boxes instead of plastic. It was done as to save the turtles.

 

 

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[Pratique]

We have a popular local amphitheater here that now has water in cardboard boxes instead of plastic. It was done as to save the turtles.

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It seems there are always trade-offs. Less plastic in the waste stream is certainly good for many reasons. Also, cardboard boxes take up less space than bottles, so that reduces the amount of energy needed for shipping. But cardboard manufacturing requires more energy and produces more greenhouse gases than plastic. It seems that a better solution is to move toward reusable (multi-use) plastics. For example, reusable containers for all of that produce that is currently loaded onto the ship each week in single-use plastic containers.

[SRF]

Yep. Many, many third world countries have no regulation regarding garbage disposal. Look at the scenes of Rio harbor during the recent Olympics. World renowned Copacabana beach has a permanent belt of floating plastic and trash just out of sight offshore.

 

Heck, not sure if it has stopped, but NYC used to barge waste out to the ocean and dump it.

 

Remember the needles on the Long Island beaches thing.

[chengkp75]

Heck, not sure if it has stopped, but NYC used to barge waste out to the ocean and dump it.

 

Remember the needles on the Long Island beaches thing.

 

No waste has been dumped at sea for 20 years. There are, however, tankers assigned to the Marine Section of the NYC DEP that transport sewage between treatment plants. Not all NYC treatment plants can completely dewater sewage, so it is carried by tanker between plants.

 

Most of the needles on the beach were from storm drains more than sewage being dumped at sea.

[fred30]

Maybe my cynicism showing, but I don't feel this is "symbolic" to stimulate other corporations to go greener. I think RCI is using a project to reduce waste disposal fees to promote their "greenness".

 

I totally agree. They will probably be switching over to more paper goods that the can incinerate on-board.

[A&L_Ont]

Maybe my cynicism showing, but I don't feel this is "symbolic" to stimulate other corporations to go greener. I think RCI is using a project to reduce waste disposal fees to promote their "greenness".

 

 

It also goes hand-in-hand with their new cause of "Save the Waves".

[poncho1973]

There are multiple companies (several based in India & Thailand where plastics are overtaking the place) working on starch based plastics for things that have to be single-use or maybe are PREFERED single-use items.

 

Here are a few videos:

 

 

 

[island lady]

Some other sort of dumping?

 

Did you ever walk down the beach and find those partially burned/melted pieces of plastic forks, bottles, etc.?

 

Lots of ships, other than cruise ships out there just partially run the plastic though the burner/incenerator...dump it over board and call it good. Yuck! :eek::(

[Anton]

Hypothetical scene from someone's future RCI cruise...."I have to go to the naughty room to get my luggage." "Did they find the bottle of rum you were trying to sneak aboard?" "No, they found my box of straws."

[chengkp75]

Did you ever walk down the beach and find those partially burned/melted pieces of plastic forks, bottles, etc.?

 

Lots of ships, other than cruise ships out there just partially run the plastic though the burner/incenerator...dump it over board and call it good. Yuck! :eek::(

 

Actually, the fines for dumping incinerator ash (or partially melted plastic) are just as high as for dumping plastic, so why would a ship do this? Question; how do you "partially run the plastic through the incinerator"? All ships can be fined for dumping anything over the side, other than food waste. Personally, I would suspect that the melted plastic forks (virtually unheard of on ships, as reusable cutlery is far cheaper in the long run) and such are from burning garbage barrels on land, or from town dump fires.

[island lady]

Hypothetical scene from someone's future RCI cruise...."I have to go to the naughty room to get my luggage." "Did they find the bottle of rum you were trying to sneak aboard?" "No, they found my box of straws."

 

 

LOL!! Got called to the naughty room once for wire hangers...guess they thought it was a wired bomb! :o From then on I bring plastic hangers...sheeezz...here we go again! :')

[island lady]

Actually, the fines for dumping incinerator ash (or partially melted plastic) are just as high as for dumping plastic, so why would a ship do this? Question; how do you "partially run the plastic through the incinerator"? All ships can be fined for dumping anything over the side, other than food waste. Personally, I would suspect that the melted plastic forks (virtually unheard of on ships, as reusable cutlery is far cheaper in the long run) and such are from burning garbage barrels on land, or from town dump fires.

 

Ah...if the plastic could talk. :confused:

[RocketMan275]

Well, RCI could adopt the proposed plan in California to fine a $1000 for giving straws to customers who've not asked for one.

 

I do seem to remember that at one time, straws were made of paper. Not sure that would be a plus/minus for the environment.

[josprince]

Google "Royal Caribbean fined for dumping".

[onthewater51]

What they are trying to do is find and promote alternatives to all the things mentioned by other posters. In many cases a paper or wood product can be used. The amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean is enormous.

 

 

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Not slamming you at all, belive me. I understand what you are saying. But I find it funny that many places are trying to reduce their use of plastic, yet 20-30 years ago industries moved away from paper or wood products to save trees, and so they moved to plastic. And now....

[Icantgolf]

Switching to biodegradable straws would be great. I'm sure quite a few get in the water at Labadee and Coco Cay and they pose an immediate danger to turtles.

 

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Here is the end result of plastic straws in our oceans.

 

 

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[SRF]

I do seem to remember that at one time, straws were made of paper. Not sure that would be a plus/minus for the environment.

 

Showing your age. :D

[IrishKevinCan]

Was just on a 5 night Mexico on Independence Of the Seas. All of the shops on the promenade were giving white paper bags with handles and not the plastic RCI bags for purchases. It was odd as they were much too large for most things people were buying. Perhaps a first step.

 

 

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[CapeCoralCruiser]

Saw the title, feared they were eliminating credit cards. Happy to get rid of all that other plastic.

 

RCCL happily welcomes all of us to use our "multiple use, especially with RCCL," plastic. Haven't been turned down yet! (y):ship:

[island lady]

RCCL happily welcomes all of us to use our "multiple use, especially with RCCL," plastic. Haven't been turned down yet! (y):ship:

 

And those are pieces of plastic we don't tend to throw away. :p:cool: Multiple use...good recycling! :D

[ONECRUISER]

Showing your age. :D

Hey I resemble that remark...

[ONECRUISER]

It also goes hand-in-hand with their new cause of "Save the Waves".

I love Royal but some people don't realize the Save the Waves campaign started after the following high profile event's: In 1998 and 1999, the company was fined US$9 million because one of its ships, the Sovereign of the Seas, had repeatedly dumped oily waste into the ocean and tried to hide this using false records, including fake piping diagrams given to the US Coast Guard Because the company was and is incorporated in Liberia. Royal Caribbean argued that this case was not in the jurisdiction of US courts. Despite their argument, they were unsuccessful

[Don Pedro]

Belts?

 

 

Shoes?

 

 

:confused::confused::confused:

 

Could be going clothing optional.

[A&L_Ont]

I love Royal but some people don't realize the Save the Waves campaign started after the following high profile event's: In 1998 and 1999, the company was fined US$9 million because one of its ships, the Sovereign of the Seas, had repeatedly dumped oily waste into the ocean and tried to hide this using false records, including fake piping diagrams given to the US Coast Guard Because the company was and is incorporated in Liberia. Royal Caribbean argued that this case was not in the jurisdiction of US courts. Despite their argument, they were unsuccessful

 

Perhaps I should have added the “sarcasm font” to my original post. ;)

 

That all being said, Princess was just caught doing the same thing last year, if not the year before.

[alfaeric]

I love Royal but some people don't realize the Save the Waves campaign started after the following high profile event's: In 1998 and 1999, the company was fined US$9 million because one of its ships, the Sovereign of the Seas, had repeatedly dumped oily waste into the ocean and tried to hide this using false records, including fake piping diagrams given to the US Coast Guard Because the company was and is incorporated in Liberia. Royal Caribbean argued that this case was not in the jurisdiction of US courts. Despite their argument, they were unsuccessful

After seeing 20 years of evolution of the "Save the Waves" campaign, you can see it evolve from making themselves look better after a really dumb thing to now actually spending money to improve the environment.

 

Just look at the ships they have- the Oasis class was a huge efficiency increase for passengers, and they included designs to meet future emissions rules. And the new class of ships that are planned to use natural gas- this stuff is really expensive.

 

So, while the reason Save the Waves started may be a very bad thing, the thing it has evolved into isn't.