25 



ousness, I want to congratulate them. They do a good job, and we 

 use some of their posters on our ships, in the crew quarters. 



I have looked at their statistics, Mr. Chairman, and Ms. Schrader 

 would be in a better position to confirm these than I, but in 1988, 

 there were 1,973,000 pieces of garbage found on the beaches. 

 Thirty-one of that 1,973,000 were from cruise ships. That is too 

 many. I realize that. 



In 1991, there were 5.2 million, and there were 77 cruise ship 

 designated pieces of garbage, and I recognize that Ms. Schrader 

 feels that that is the tip of the iceberg. There may be many other 

 things out there that don't have cruise ship designations on them, 

 and so they can't be traced. 



Mr. Chairman, it does not represent a policy. One piece is too 

 much, and we recognize that. And I can only assure you that this 

 industry is urgently looking at this problem, and it is a big prob- 

 lem, and we think we are on the right track and hopefully can 

 solve it to your satisfaction. 



Mr. Tauzin. You indicate in your diagrams and testimony some 



rather extensive efforts at handling garbage and waste on board 



ships. Are those only for new vessels being constructed or older 



vessels being retrofitted with this equipment? 



Mr. Estes. Yes. What you have before you in Appendixes C and 



D is the state-of-the-art 



Mr. Tauzin. It is the newer vessels? 

 Mr. Estes. It is on the newer vessels. 



Mr. Tauzin. What is being done to retrofit older vessels with 

 such state-of-the-art equipment? 



Mr. Estes. Where incineration can be put in, it is put in. Much 

 of it, as I said to you earlier, is, however, a sorting problem where 

 the vessel can't take an incinerator for whatever reason, whether it 

 is a stability reason or a space reason. Then the garbage has to be 

 sorted. It has to be bundled. 



Mr. Tauzin. Is your industry aware of the sorting and compres- 

 sion equipment available to the offshore oil and gas industry in the 

 Gulf of Mexico that is commonly used aboard installations? I vis- 

 ited a plant that manufactures them, and they are basically rotat- 

 ing systems with separated compartments. And as garbage is dis- 

 posed of, it is disposed of in each of the separate compartments to 



then circulate 



Mr. Estes. Of the ship? 



Mr. Tauzin. No. It is a piece of equipment. It is a very large 

 drum-like piece of equipment with separated segments much like 

 an orange sliced, and as each segment goes around, it is com- 

 pressed, and different brown glass and white glass and cans and 

 plastics are thrown in separate compartments, and cardboards are 

 handled in a separate machine. There is equipment readily avail- 

 able on the marketplace. I know the offshore industry uses it. Does 

 the cruise ship industry know about this equipment? Does it use 

 that type of equipment? 



Mr. Estes. I don't think we use that type, but I can find out for 

 you, and I will call it to their attention. I am sure if it is usable, it 

 will be looked at. The problem we have is a lot of the waste comes 

 from cabins, and we have a large number of cabins. And the stew- 

 ard will go into the cabin and clean out the cabin's waste and then 



