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James Chapman
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It seems there's nothing this Vision of the Seas Environmental Officer and his crew won't do to 'reduce, reuse and recycle'. For the 11-year veteran of Royal Caribbean, it's all in a day's work. All in the name of protecting the planet for generations to come.
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So, 'environmental officer'. Quite a big job these days. Tell us about your responsibilities.
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I do a lot of training, mainly Save the Waves® training for the crew, and environmental compliance. That's probably the biggest thing. Most of my day is actually spent checking and double checking the systems, making sure that any disposals are done in accordance with safety quality management.
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Sounds like lots of dotting of i's and crossing of t's. Describe your average day.
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Well, yesterday was rubbish day. We inspect any dry rubbish we're taking off the ship to make sure we're not mixing food waste with paper and plastics and everything's going where it's supposed to go.
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And how do you dispose of the waste?
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We don't discharge any food ashore anywhere. It's all taken care of onboard from the food pulpers. We dry all the food waste, and we can incinerate the food waste and squeeze the water out of that.
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That's great. What do you do at home to help save the planet?
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We have all these energy-saving light bulbs and we're extremely careful about water consumption. We take showers instead of baths.
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Ever take part in any Earth Day celebrations?
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Yes, I have, but everyday is Earth Day for Royal Caribbean International. We're trying to save fuel and water all the time. It's good business sense, and it's just the right thing to do, for everybody. My grandchildren have got to grow up in this world and they want to be able to drink clean water at the end of the day. So anything we can do now is going to help.
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What are the top three things guests can do to help protect the environment while they travel?
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1) Please reuse your towels - that's a big one. Hang them back up and don't leave them on the floor. The laundry and chemicals we save that's good for all of us. 2) Help us recycle - this is a big one too. Use the specially marked rubbish bins onboard to keep paper and plastics separate. And 3) whatever you do, never throw anything over the side. Protect our environment and save the waves for everybody.
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