Garbage

Garbage refers to food, household and operational waste produced during the normal operation of the ship that continuously or periodically must be emptied.
Discharge of garbage from Swedish or foreign ships are prohibited in Swedish territorial waters and the Baltic Sea area outside these and from Swedish ships within special areas as follows:

• All plastics, including synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets and plastic garbage bags.
  
• Other garbage including paper products, rags, glass, metal, bottles, crockery, dunnage, lining and packaging materials.

Discharge of food waste shall be done as far from land as possible but at least twelve nautical miles from the nearest land.

In other sea areas, discharge is prohibited from Swedish or foreign ships of all plastics, including synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets and plastic garbage bags. Discharge of other garbage shall be done as far from land as possible and is forbidden if the distance to land is less than:

• 25 nautical miles for dunnage, linning and packaging materials which will float.
  
• 12 nautical miles for food waste and garbage including paper products, rags, glass, metal, bottles and crockery.

There are certain exemptions:

• Discharge of garbage from ships necessary for the safety of the ship and the people onboard or to save life at sea.
  
  
• Escape of garbage resulting from damage to the ship or its equipment if all reasonable action was taken before or after the damage occurred to prevent or contain the escape as far as possible.
  
  
• Unintentional loss of synthetic fishing nets or synthetic materials used to repair such nets, provided that all reasonable action was taken to prevent such loss.

The complete regulations are described in the Regulations of the Swedish Transport Agency and General Advice (TSFS 2010:96) on preventing of pollution from ships.