A warship produces trash and waste like every other society on Earth. It's unrealistic for vessels to keep garbage on board and some must be discharged at sea. The United States Navy has dramatically reduced trash discharged at sea, recognizing that some items hurt the marine environment while others will biodegrade.
A significant portion of trash at sea is from the ships mess decks. Food wast and paper products make up the bulk of the dozens of bags produced during any given day underway. A stark reality of feeding crews several hundred on destroyers to several thousand aboard carriers.
Three Specific machines ensure trash is manageable.
Compressed melting unit to turn waste plastic products into disks, these disks can then offloaded during underway replenishments or port visits, ensuring little to no waste enters the marine environment as it will not biodegrade quickly or at all.
An industrial metal shedder disposes of metal and glass. These can be disposed of at sea but are processed by the ships trash room before discharge.
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One of the most unpleasant tasks of the trash room is the food and paper waste pulper. The trash is injected into a large screw while large amounts of water are pumped through pulping the material. Sailors will regularly have clean the screw device to ensure fabric and other material does not wrap around it often caused by unnoticed miscategorized waste. You can think of this device as the real giant garbage disposal every one wished they had in their kitchen at home. Note the sailor is wearing the face shield, it splashes....Close your mouth and try not to talk when doing this type of work, don't ask.
