Cruise lines OK waste, recycling rules
| • | Industry prepares for big Hawai'i expansion |
Advertiser News Services
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Carnival Corp., Walt Disney Co. and other cruise operators agreed to meet environmental standards on waste discharge and recycling, an industry group said.
Advertiser library photo • May 7, 1997
The International Council of Cruise Lines represents the interests of 16 passenger cruise lines that operate in North America and more than 70 industry suppliers. Compliance is a condition of membership in the ICCL, spokeswoman Molly McPherson said.
Celebrity Cruises' luxury liner Galaxy docks at Pier 35 along Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The cruise line is one of 16 companies that have agreed to meet new environmental standards that will apply worldwide.
The environmental rules are among several standards the council proposed in February. Standards governing medical facilities and security measures, including passenger safety, probably will be introduced next, McPherson said. Cruise-ship operators in recent months have been under pressure from several states, including Alaska, to improve environmental standards.
ICCL President Michael Crye said his group's 16 members unanimously approved the environmental standards independent of the happenings in Alaska, where legislators have passed some of the toughest laws in the nation governing cruise ships.
"I hope that these efforts on the part of the cruise industry do not go unappreciated," Crye said. "Regrettably, there have been violations of environmental laws involving cruise lines in the past few years. These incidents have served as a wake-up call."
Alaska began testing smokestack emissions and water discharges a year ago and found only one of 80 water samples taken from ship storage tanks met federal standards for suspended solids and fecal coliform, a bacteria found in human feces.
The findings touched off a backlash against an industry that brings 640,000 travelers to Alaska each summer.
The new ICCL standards govern the disposal of silver associated with photo processing aboard ships, chemicals used in dry-cleaning and printing, bilge and oily water residues and recyclables like glass and cardboard. The standards also control the discharge of treated sewage and wastewater from showers, sinks and kitchen galleys.
The ICCL standards call for ships to be at least four miles from port before discharging such water, unless authorities stipulate otherwise, or a ship is limited by geography.
Until now, the water from galleys, sinks, and showers could be discharged almost anywhere except within a mile of Alaskan ports. The ICCL standards, however, will apply throughout the world.
Kira Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the environmental lobbying group Bluewater Network, called the ICCL standards a step in the right direction, but said they were no substitute for government regulation of the industry.
Although cruise ships account for just a fraction of the 194,075 marine pollution cases recorded by the Coast Guard since 1991, the ships produce an astonishing amount of waste, motivating cruise companies to look for new ways to lessen their environmental impact.
Shipboard employees of Princess Cruises, for example, sometimes sort garbage by hand, picking out empty liquor bottles and stray soda cans.
The cruise lines subject to ICCL standards are: Carnival, Celebrity, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Orient, Princess, Radisson, Regal, Royal Caribbean, Royal Olympic, Seabourn and Windstar.
