Garbage Management Plans and general Guidelines

General Requirement:

1. Every ship of 100 gross tonnages and above and every ship that is certified to carry 15 or more persons and fixed or floating platforms shall carry a garbage management plan that the crew shall follow.
1. The plan shall be based on the guidelines developed by the Organization and written in the working language of the crew.
2. The plan shall provide written procedures for minimizing, collecting, storing, processing and disposal of the garbage, including the use of the equipment on board.
3. The Garbage Management plan shall also designate a person or person in charge of carrying out the Plan.
2. A ship's Garbage Management plan should detail the ship's equipment, arrangements and procedures for handling the garbage.
3. The Garbage Management Plan shall contain the extracts and/or references to existing company instructions.

Prevention of Pollution from Garbage:

1. To archive cost-effective and environmentally sound results, many garbage management planners use a combination of complementary techniques to manage garbage, such as the following:
1. Reduction at the source.
2. Reusing or recycling.
3. Onboard processing (treatment).
4. Discharge into the sea in those limited situations where it is permitted.
5. Discharge to a port reception facility.
2. When requisitioning stores and provisions, shipping companies should encourage their suppliers to remove and reduce all packaging at an early stage to limit the generation of garbage onboard ships.
3. When garbage is generated aboard a ship, procedures should be defined to enable the crew to sort the material that can be reused onboard the ship or recycled at an appropriate port reception facility.
4. Ship's garbage is made up of distinct components some of which are regulated in MARPOl Annex V, while others may be regulated locally, nationally or regionally.
5. Each component of the garbage should be evaluated separately to determine the best management practice for that type of garbage.

Matters that should be Addressed in Garbage Management Plan:

Designated Person in charge of carrying out the Plan:

1. Under Regulation 10 of MARPOL Annex V, the plan shall designate a person in charge of carrying out the plan.
2. The plan should ensure the Garbage Management plan is followed onboard.
3. This person should be assisted by the ship's crew to ensure that the minimization, collection, separation and processing of garbage is appropriate and efficient in all areas of the ship. 

Procedures for collecting Garbage:

1. Identify suitable receptacles for the collection and separation.
2. Identify the locations of receptacles for the collection and separation stations.
3. Describe the process of how garbage is transported from the source of generation to the collection and separation stations.
4. Describe how garbage is to be handled between primary collection and separation stations and other handling methods relating to the following:
1. Needs of reception facilities, taking into account possible local recycling arrangements.
2. Onboard processing and potential reuse of garbage aboard the ship.
3. Storage
4. Discharge into the sea in those limited situations where it is permitted.
5. Describe the training or education programmes to facilitate the collection of garbage and sorting of reusable or recyclable material.

Procedures for Processing Garbage:

1. Identify personnel responsible for the operation of the processing equipment.
2. Identify available processing devices and their capacities.
3. Identify the locations of processing devices and processing stations.
4. Identify the categories of garbage that are to be processed by each of the available processing devices.
5. Describe how material that can be reused or recycled is to be handled between primary processing stations and the storage or transfer stations.
6. Describe processing procedures used for the following:
1. Needs of reception facilities, taking into account available recycling arrangements.
2. Storage
3. Discharge into the sea in those limited situations where it is permitted.
7. Describe the training or education programmes to facilitate the processing of garbage and reuse or recycling of material.

Procedures for Storing Garbage or Reusable or Recyclable material:

1. Identify the locations, the intended use and the capacities of available storage stations for each category of Garbage or reusable or recyclable material.
2. Describe the conditions of how the garbage will be stored (For Example - "food - frozen", "Cans - compacted and stacked", "Paper - Compacted and should remain dry" etc.) 
3. Describe how garbage, including reusable and recyclable material, is to be handled between storage stations and discharge with regard to the following:
1. Discharge to Reception facilities, taking into account available recycling arrangements.
2. Discharge into the sea in those limited situations where it is allowed.
4. Describe the training or education programmes to facilitate the storing of garbage and options for reusing and recycling components of the waste stream. 

Procedures for discharging of Garbage:

1. Describe the ship's procedures to ensure and demonstrate compliance with the requirements to the revised MARPOL Annex V for the discharge of Garbage.

Summary of Restrictions to the Discharge of garbage into the Sea under Regulation 4, 5, 6 and 14 of MARPOL Annex V and Chapter 5 of Part II-A of the Polar Code: 

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Reference: IMO Publications & Documents - International Conventions - Resolution - MEPC - Resolution MEPC.220(63)