Annex V
The revised Annex V now generally prohibits the discharge of all garbage into the sea, except as provided otherwise in regulations 4, 5, and 6 of the Annex, which are related to food waste, cargo residues, cleaning agents and additives and animal carcasses. An overview of the revised MARPOL Annex V discharge provisions can be accessed here. Exceptions with respect to the safety of a ship and those on board and accidental loss are contained in regulation 7 of Annex V.
Under the revised MARPOL Annex V, garbage includes all kinds of food, domestic and operational waste, all plastics, cargo residues, incinerator ashes, cooking oil, fishing gear, and animal carcasses generated during the normal operation of the ship and liable to be disposed of continuously or periodically. Garbage does not include fresh fish and parts thereof generated as a result of fishing activities undertaken during the voyage, or as a result of aquaculture activities.
Special areas
The special areas established under Annex V are:
• the Mediterranean Sea area
• the Baltic Sea area
• the Black Sea area
• the Red Sea area
• the Gulfs area
• the North Sea area
• the Wider Caribbean Region and
• the Antarctic area.
These are sea areas where for recognized technical reasons relating to their oceanographic and ecological condition and the particular character of traffic, such as heavy maritime traffic, low water exchange, extreme ice states, endangered marine species, etc., the adoption of special mandatory methods for the prevention of marine pollution by garbage is required.
Garbage management plans
All ships of 100 gross tonnage and above, every ship certified to carry 15 persons or more, and every fixed or floating platform will have to carry a garbage management plan, which includes written procedures for minimizing, collecting, storing, processing and disposing of garbage, including the use of the equipment on board (regulation 10.2). The garbage management plan should designate the person responsible for the plan and should be in the working language of the crew. Resolution MEPC.220(63) provides the 2012 Guidelines for the development of garbage management plans.
Garbage Record Book
Implementation and enforcement is also the focus of regulation 10.3, which requires all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above and every ship which is certified to carry 15 persons or more engaged in voyages to ports and offshore terminals under the jurisdiction of another Party to the Convention and every fixed or floating platform to provide a Garbage Record Book and to record all disposal and incineration operations.
The date, time, position of the ship, description of the garbage and the estimated amount incinerated or discharged must be logged and signed. The Garbage Record Book must be kept for a period of two years after the date of the last entry. This regulation does not in itself impose stricter requirements - but it makes it easier to check that the regulations on garbage are being adhered to as it means ship personnel must keep track of the garbage and what happens to it. It may also prove an advantage to a ship when local officials are checking the origin of discharged garbage - if ship personnel can adequately account for all their garbage, they are unlikely to be wrongly penalised for discharging garbage when they have not done so. The appendix to MARPOL Annex V provides a standard form for a Garbage Record Book.