Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea (1995)
Chapter: Management Education and Training
Education and Training for Employees and Visitors
Education and training for employees and visitors on fleets and in ports can help ensure that proper waste reduction, sorting, and disposal procedures are followed. This form of instruction is designed to control both vessel and land-based sources of marine debris. Examples include education of fishermen concerning the harmful effects of discarded or lost nets and traps (including reductions in commercial fish and shellfish stocks) and the economic losses incurred when debris is caught in trawls; education of cargo and cruise ship personnel concerning the types of garbage subject to Annex V as contrasted with U.S. quarantine regulations; boating safety courses that include Annex V information; education of cruise passengers to convince them to forego certain amenities for the sake of the environment; and education of waste haulers who otherwise might dispose of ship garbage by dumping it illegally.
Employee education and training also can target product and service suppliers for ports and fleets. For example, vendors and packaging designers can be educated about environmentally conscious design techniques. Experience shows that market pressures alone are not enough to stimulate production of environmentally conscious products; suppliers need to understand the nature of a problem before they will respond. Education played a role in the redesign of bait boxes used by commercial fishermen to eliminate plastic strapping bands.
Management Education and Training
Annex V education and training programs must target management, including owners and operators of vessels and shore-based garbage management systems as well as government managers. These are the agents of change—professionals who oversee and influence others and establish organizational culture. Because they select organizational practices and materials, managers must be the key audience for information exchange programs.
This category of programs includes education to introduce vessel operators to Total Quality Management principles; meetings to improve coordination and share information among the federal agencies responsible for Annex V and quarantine inspections, and among individuals involved in on-board and shore-based garbage management; training for employers focusing on the benefits to a company's image accruing from environmental initiatives; efforts to disseminate information about the shipboard garbage treatment technologies developed by the Navy or the passenger cruise ship industry; and education of port operators and local government concerning the garbage disposal facilities they need to provide.
