Garbage

[Hoppyman]

We're new to the cruising life and we'll be outfitting a new Cutwater in the next few months. We've covered a number of the items we'll need and storage issues. But, one question we have is the best way to handle the garbage generated while cruising, especially when you'll need to carry it aboard for a number of days. Eliminating as much waste before starting is a good idea, but what do you do with what is generated during the trip? Plastic bags? Trash can? Odor control? What inventive ways have you thought up to handle this issue?

Thanks, and we look forward to meeting other Cutwater and Ranger owners as we hit the water.

Erik & Loni

 

[Levitation]

Repackage bulk foods into single portion servings and discard the bulk container before loading the boat... Zip bags are the best containers for boating because they are flat after being emptied where any kind of hard container with a lid still takes up room...
---- Ya, ya, ya... I know all about BPA and plasticizers... Just breathing is considered a major risk these days ---
Pull the inner bag out of the cereal box and throw the box away...

Make those single meal servings actually single portion size so that no garbage (to stink) is left after the meal... Now single portion size is less than half of what you think it is... Go to the local hospital with your bulk container and some zip bags and ask the dietician to show you what a portion actually is... If you actually follow her guidelines you can cruise and lose weight... Make a meal plan, prepackage each meal and magic marker it on the outside of the bag/container, post the plan on the cabin wall...

Boil bags are a good way for heating the food without having to wash out a pot afterwards - especially for foods that tend to burn or stick to the pot...

Pre-bag your home made bean soups (or whatever) into a boil bag with the spices (dry) already measured and in there... Then just add water to the bag and drop into a pan of boiling water to cook... Those that call for milk in the food can be done with powdered milk along with the spices...

Left over paper and cardboard can be burned on the grill to get rid of them (consider the wind - and NO plastic)... Put two layers of aluminum foil on the grill, stack the items on top and burn them...

There are garbage bags with odor control coated on the interior... Double bag this inside of a normal garbage bag and there should be no odor issues...

A gallon drinking water container can be refilled at the supermarket in many places, for 30 cents (mostly in the South, have not seen it here in Michigan so far) This is how we do it... We have two jugs, the one in use sits on the counter and the backup is lashed to the swim platform...

Canned goods are great except for the can afterwards... Consider a can crusher for flattening them...
Freeze dried camping/mountain-climbing meals are great... Not cheap, but great...
Wine in a bag - (Oenophiles may cover their eyes and shudder)...
Beer/pop in large containers take less space than multiple stacked cans...
You liked CoolAid when you were a kid - so what's the problem now?

Do a search on the RV chat groups and you will learn lots more tips and tricks than I ever thought of, plus recipes

 

[sportner]

Denny-o has some great ideas. If you carry a car top carrier on the sport rack, we call it the "attic", its a great place for an occasional bag of refuse and keeps it out of the cockpit.

 

[Stella Maris]

Denny makes many good points here. We have been able to go two weeks without burning or emptying the trash can by following just a couple of simple suggestions.

1) Discard all boxes, not just the cereal. Crackers etc need to come out of the box. Date the plastic bag with a sharpie to insure rotation as you use and restock.
2) Drink the water out of your tank. Simply flush the tank a few times once you take delivery. Then, we use a charcoal filter coming off of the faucet and another at the end of the hose where it goes into the tank. This filters it twice before it even gets into the tank. Then just down from the fresh water pump, I installed another in line charcoal filter. The water has now been filtered three times. Use Nalgene bottles for drinking. Above all else, use a hose designed for drinking water. RV and Marine stores both carry these however, Wal Mart is far cheaper for the same products. You can also pick up your Charcoal Filters here.
3) We use the Foil Pack Tuna to eliminate the can. I rinse the package in the sea water before placing in the trash.
4) Use a seal a meal to portion out food. This preserves it better than zip lock bags. Again, if they contained "wet" food, rinse over the side before placing in the trash.
5) We use no paper or plastic utensils, cups, or plates. We use real flatware and dishes for meals. To conserve water, we had sink covers made for the galley sinks. We will rinse the dishes over the side and then place in the sink until the end of the day. The sink cover "hides" the dirty dishes from view. Washing all of the dishes once a day saves a tremendous amount of water.
6) We do not place the wine bottles (yes, we do have bottles.....no boxed wine for us) or any jars in the trash can. These get rinsed out and placed in a separate bag in the bilge.

We use a Simple Human 30 Quart Stainless Trash can with a step on opener for garbage. This is kept in the basement. The step on feature is nice when you have your hands full. The other benefit is you can really pack the trash down in this can.

After spending 11 days in Desolation last summer, we came off with one 30 quart bag of trash and a bag of bottles. We had no odor issues.

 

[Hoppyman]

Excellent! Very good information and I appreciate the time taken to share such detailed responses.

Erik & Loni

 

[Bruce Moore]

One of our smallest purchases has turned out to be one of the most useful in this category.

We keep a simplehuman counter top trash can near the sink. We fit it with small doggie bags. All the wet garbage from food and beverage prep goes in there. When it's full we tie the bag closed and toss it in our larger trash can. This keeps things a bit neater and helps avoid odor problems.

Cheers,

Bruce