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ELEMENTS OF AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 117 mental regulations. Changes in provisioning practices, such as switching from small to large ketchup bottles, also can have economic benefits. Navy Surface Combatant Vessels and Their Home Ports Intelligence The U.S. Navy collects a considerable amount and range of internal information, including data on ship garbage generation and management and the activities of the home ports that provide ships with supplies and services, including garbage disposal. In addition, the Navy has examined in depth its supply chain and the shipboard equipment options for treating garbage. The Navy's Annex V compliance plans also have been reviewed by the U.S. General Accounting Of-flee (1994a, 1994b), which has criticized the Navy's planning and the large sums of money spent on technology projects that have not been deployed to the fleet. Thus, the level of detail available concerning the Navy's garbage generation and disposal practices exceeds that obtained for other maritime sectors. At the same time, it can be difficult to make generalizations about the Navy, because compliance strategies are not necessarily the same for every ship. For example, recycling practices vary by operating unit (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1994b). Little is known about garbage management practices of the commercial or foreign ports sometimes used by naval vessels, or the commercial waste haulers that some home ports may be forced by local laws to employ. The Navy does not report inadequate port reception facilities using the IMO forms because public vessels are exempt from MARPOL requirements. Control The Navy's surface fleet is subject to direct federal control through both internal management practices and external congressional review. The Navy has an established command and control structure that has served as an effective mechanism for organizing fleetwide compliance with the MPPRCA. A range of interventions has been employed. Operational measures include the 3-day/20- day rule (described in Chapter 1) for holding plastics on board. The Navy supports its implementation efforts with a vigorous education program for ship and shoreside personnel (Koss et al., 1990; Koss, 1994) and an internal system of rewards and sanctions. (Violators have been punished [Ocean Science News, 1991].) Economic incentives include returning monies from recycling to ship crews. Technical interventions are the key to full compliance in this sector. Federal control of progress in implementation currently is limited for very large ships, such as aircraft carriers, by both ship design and the need to undertake extended missions. Garbage cannot be treated adequately on these ships at present because
ELEMENTS OF AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 118 TABLE 4-6 Applying the Hazard Evolution and Intervention Model to Offshore Oil and Gas Industry Platforms, Rigs, Vessels, and Base Terminals Hazard Evolution Model Human Behavior that On-board Generation of Encourages Generating Garbage Garbage Intervention Model Modify Behavior that Reduce Garbage Encourages Generating Generation Garbage Technological Characterize garbage and conduct needs assessment. Organizational and Voluntarily prohibit use Operational of certain materials or items, such as foamed plastic and packing pellets. Sort garbage at site of generation. Use only vendors committed to packaging and storage techniques that minimize waste. Educational (Target Establish housekeeping Population/Content) procedures for use during trips to and from shore. Establish garbage sorting systems at worksites. Government and Private OOC is developing best Regulation and practices guidelines for Enforcement voluntary use by operators. Economic (Market Foster operators' Revise provisioning Forces) awareness of economic practices. benefit of good public image.
ELEMENTS OF AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 119 Hazard Evolution Breakdown in Discharge of Exposure to Model Compliance Garbage into Discharged Sea (already Garbage prohibited by national law) Intervention Model Prevent Block Discharge Block Exposure Breakdown in of Garbage into to Discharged Compliance Sea Garbage Technological Keep all Install equipment well comminuters to maintained. reduce size of food particles discharged. Organizational Assure that Improve Retrieve large and Operational corporate culture handling of large plastic sheeting discourages plastic sheeting found floating at overboard (used to protect sea. disposal. Move materials in all materials in transit) to reduce sealed and loss overboard covered Develop containers to strategies reduce chance of through loss overboard. Offshore Keep records of Operators garbage Committee transactions. (OOC) committee on waste management and OOC/API waste management practices project. Keep garbage confined during transit back to base terminals. Educational Educate (Target Population/ company Content) managers and vessel operators about Annex V mandates and compliance strategies. Provide posters, placards, and worker training. Government and Examine MMS Private Regulation garbage regulations and Enforcement handling prohibit release practices and of wastes into logs during water. routine inspections. Economic (Market Forces)
ELEMENTS OF AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 120 the equipment developed by Navy researchers has yet to be installed.12 Part of the problem should be solved within several years. To comply with the 1988 MPPRCA deadline for halting overboard discharge of plastics, the Navy recently has focused its technical program on development of a shredder-heater- compactor system. The preproduction prototype was installed on an aircraft carrier in May 1994 and fleetwide installation is to be completed by late 1998. But disposal of garbage other than plastics remains a problem. The Navy must operate in Annex V special areas, where no garbage except food waste may be discharged overboard. At present, this requirement is not causing major difficulties, because the Navy conducts few activities in the three special areas now in force (the Baltic and North seas and the Antarctic Ocean). However, the Navy must prepare for the entry into force of special area requirements in the Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere, where its operations are extensive. The Navy sought legislation that would have allowed its vessels to discharge pulped or shredded nonfood garbage in special areas, but the Congress did not authorize this change. As a result, the Navy has suspended plans to purchase and install pulpers and shredders13 (the shredder technology now is used in the plastics processor). While acknowledging that use of pulpers and shredders would be beneficial outside special areas (e.g., it would diminish evidence signaling vessel whereabouts to potential enemies and eliminate ''aesthetically objectionable discharge of intact trash''), the Navy has determined it is not worth spending several hundred million dollars to retrofit ships with equipment that would not enable compliance with special area requirements (U.S. Navy, 1994). Instead, to meet these requirements, the Navy plans to solicit proposals from industry for technologies suitable for shipboard use. The Navy also is experimenting with several advanced garbage treatment technologies not included in its formal plan.14 12 The Navy has been criticized for spending some 14 years and $52 million to research, develop, and produce on-board garbage treatment equipment without producing a plan for full compliance (Associated Press, 1994; U.S. General Accounting Office, 1994a, 1994b). Initially, the Navy planned to develop a vertical trash compactor, a solid waste pulper, and a plastics waste processor; in 1993, the compactor was abandoned in favor of the metal/glass shredder, since adapted to shred only plastics (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1994a, 1994b). 13 Even if these technologies were installed, garbage management would remain a time-consuming duty on large ships. The Navy's pulper would have to operate approximately 19 hours per day to process the food waste, paper, and cardboard generated by an aircraft carrier with a crew of 5,600 (Swanson et al., 1994). The shredder would have to run for 4.8 hours per day to process all the glass and metal garbage, and the entire operation (including sorting, feeding, processing, and bagging) would take up to 11.5 hours (Swanson et al., 1994). The shredder might require repair about every two months (Swanson et al., 1994). 14 These technologies include plasma arc, which uses an electronic arc as a heat source for converting materials to a gas or fused slag; molten salt destruction, which employs melted sodium in a closed container; and ram-jet incineration, a high-speed gas technology similar to rocket and jet engines (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1994a, 1994b).
