August 22nd

August 22^nd Shaw Bay

Today is busy day, GARBAGE TO BURN; I bet you have never thought about what happens to all the unwanted paper, bottles, cans and food stuff that we all generate while out boating. Well it is the same stuff that we have to deal with at home.  We do not have recycling binds so this is what we do.  All the perishable food stuffs go overboard, like lettuce, potato and carrot peels.  Scrap meat feeds the fishes.  We avoid doing it in bays where there are other boats, but we put it in the water when we are under way over the transom into the dishwater wash of our stern wave.  We have an aluminium can container on the back deck and when accumulated to the max we will almost surely be near a dock. Most anywhere in the Broughtons they will take them for recycle when the do grocery runs to Pt McNeill. Sometimes they just store them in huge bags (hidden in sheds) and empty them at seasons end. Most plastic containers have a deposit return and are light.  Anything that is heavy requires fuel and lifting energy to transport it to a recycling station. 

The problem trash is metal cans and they are taken care of in a beach burn.  This takes place in very specific areas like a drying rock in the middle of a bay.  This is a low tide thing. All the paper must be dry (paper towel is wrung out to dry in the sun) as they are the fuel for the fire. When the fire is going usually with the help of accelerant like paint thinner (not gasoline) that is the time for tin cans to be placed in the hot flames. Stir around till done and the flames are out. Go back at low tide pick up the metal pieces and bag these.  What is left usually has the protective finish removed. When under way what little is left goes over the dish washer of the stern when we are in very deep deep water.

NOW I CAN HEAR THE HUMAN CRY FROM THE ENVIROMENTALIST!  Put your hands up all of you that have seen the pictures of the Titanic in the briny after she has been sunk for about a hundred years.  This is the reality check. Mother Nature will reclaim her own.  The solution to pollution is dilution when you are out or the recycle area.