Compacting Trash: Tips for Boaters

So, what do you do with all your trash on board while coasting cruising, or on short trips from the marina? First off, bring as little trash on board as possible. Then, make it as small as possible to take up less room until you’re able to dispose of it. Here’s how to compact aluminum drink cans, plastic bottles, tubs, and food tins.

Reduce Trash Before You Leave the Dock

On our very first charter, in the British Virgin Islands, we learned just what a trash-generating society we are.  We were amazed by how much trash we had in just a few days.

Obviously, the first step is making smart choices when provisioning. See my tips for reducing onboard trash through your provisioning choices.  And then get rid of as much cardboard as you can before leaving the dock.

But what then?  Most boats don’t have room for a very big wastebasket — or much room to store bags of trash.  Compacting your trash is the answer. We could easily go three weeks between trash runs without resorting to burning paper or throwing anything in the water.

A lot of “trash” is actually air, so spending a little time to squish it can save a lot of space. Here’s how to compact some of the most common rubbish.

Compacting Aluminum Cans

Aluminum cans are probably the easiest item to crush. Pinch the sides in a bit, then step down on them.  We had a little piece of carpet that we crushed cans on to keep from marring wood or fiberglass.

We rinsed them out first in seawater to get rid of any drink residue that would attract bugs, and then kept the crushed cans in a separate bag (and we usually sprayed a bit of ant and roach spray in a new bag).

Why a separate bag? Most marinas will have a place for recycling. And in every little town and fishing village in Mexico (and on land trips in South America and Africa), there is always someone who supports themself by collecting cans and selling them.

We’d either give the bag to the person or just set it next to a trash can. Someone usually made daily rounds, poking through the bin for cans. Hopefully, it was just a nice surprise for them to find cans already sorted out!

Crushing Plastic Bottles

Plastic bottles are a scourge on earth, in my opinion, but lots of times, that’s the only way to buy something.  Whenever Dave and I went walking, I took along a bag and picked up plastic bottles. It’s amazing how many there are, and they don’t disintegrate with time.  But I digress.

Basically, with plastic bottles, you’ve got two options.  You can crush them: take the cap off, step on the bottle and — while still standing on it — put the cap back on so it’ll stay “crushed.” Really thin bottles you may be able to crush (or sometimes roll up) with your hands, as in the photo.

The other option is to cut the bottle in half (kitchen shears usually make a quick job of it), put one half into the other (open end up), and then stuff other trash — usually paper — into the open end to leave as little wasted space as possible. I could probably stuff some small stuff into the bottom half around the top half, too.

That’s what I did with this oil bottle. While I could crush them like a water bottle, the heavier plastic doesn’t really compact well.  It seems to me that stuffing other stuff into the space works better, but that’s a “gut feeling.”

Compacting Jars and Tubs

Plastic and glass jars — such as peanut butter or jelly jars — and plastic tubs such as those used for margarine, cream cheese, and sour cream aren’t just trash.  They’re my garbage containers!

Anything with a wide mouth and a securely closing lid is great for collecting food scraps: potato peelings, tomato stems, bacon grease, onion skins, egg shells, and coffee grounds. All that stuff has to go somewhere.  And if you just dump it in the trash, it’ll get to stinking pretty quickly and attract bugs.

Instead, I’d put it in a jar that was already in the trash (if you have a coffee can or plastic container, they’re wonderful) and kept the lid on it.  If I had a bit of extra room in the refrigerator, I’d stick it in there so it wouldn’t be as stinky when I opened it to add more.

In an ideal world, you’d find a compost pile to put this on when ashore, but I’ve never run across a “public” compost pile, so it ends up going in the trash.

“Tin” Cans

It used to be so easy to deal with tin cans: cut both ends off, stick them in the can, and flatten them.  Then they started making these cans where you can’t cut the bottoms off.  I used to think I couldn’t crush these…, but with a little practice, I discovered that I could, and it really cut down on the volume of trash aboard.

Stick the lid inside, semi-flatten the open end (to get it started), then step down from the closed end to sort of fold it over.

Again, we always do this on a piece of carpet to keep from marring the floor.  Well, I say “we,” but Dave took this as his job while I cooked (he is emphatically NOT a cook).

Advice From Other Boaters

Here at The Boat Galley, we love learning from fellow boaters. Here are some of their tips for managing trash onboard.

Wanita reminds us that locations have their own rules about recycling. In Nova Scotia, for instance, aluminum cans must be crushed along the side, not from the top. Apparently, it’s the only way they’ll travel through sorting equipment. So, yes. If you’re counting on recycling your rubbish, look into the local rules first.

Paul S. repurposes his bacon grease instead of tossing it. He generates about a pint every six weeks. What he doesn’t use for cooking, he uses to make soap. Cured and hardened, it makes good laundry soap. Note that making bacon grease soap requires working with lye.

Finally, Court C. has made his own trash crushing tool out of two pieces of oak flooring joined with a door hinge. It takes up little room and makes crushing items easy.

Bottom Line

Let me be clear here that I’m talking about coastal cruising or weekends out of the marina, not giving tips on trash management while crossing an ocean or extended cruising without decent trash service ashore.  Both of those situations call for additional “trash management.”

Between getting rid of a lot of packaging before we left the dock and compacting our trash, we went two to three weeks and only filled one kitchen-size (13-gallon) trash bag, which we kept in the lazarette.  We had just a small bin in the galley area, and every few days, Dave would empty it into the bigger bag.  Then, when we’d “go to town” or back to a marina — wherever there was trash service — we’d get rid of it.

Another advantage of compacting your trash:  in some places, you’re charged a “per bag” fee for trash disposal.  Why pay for three or four bags when you can crush the contents and just have one bag?

Looking for more practical tips to make living on a boat easier? Check out The Basics of Living on a Boat, a course chock-full of ideas for decreasing the learning curve for your first year onboard.

Do you have a favorite way of compacting rubbish onboard? Let us know in the comments.

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