Royal Caribbean establishes onboard WTE tech, food waste programs

Royal Caribbean Group, Miami, is building on what it calls its industry-leading waste management practices by introducing new technology to the high seas.

These tools—waste-to-energy (WTE) systems, food waste applications and an expanded network of green hubs—are a result of the cruise company’s drive to responsibly deliver vacation experiences.

Debuting this year on two of the company’s newest ships will be what Royal Caribbean says are the cruise industry’s first systems to turn solid waste directly into energy onboard.

“I am proud of Royal Caribbean Group’s drive to SEA the Future and be better tomorrow than we are today,” Royal Caribbean Group President CEO Jason Liberty says. “Pioneering the first waste-to-energy system on a cruise ship builds on our commitment to remove waste from local landfills and deliver great vacation experiences, responsibly.”

Image courtesy of Royal Caribbean Group

The microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP) and micro auto gasification (MAG), debuting respectively on Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas and Silversea Cruises’ Silver Nova, will take waste on board and convert it into syngas that the ship can directly use as energy. Much like land-based WTE facilities, the systems repurpose waste in an efficient, sustainable way. An additional bioproduct of the system, biochar, can be used as a soil nutrient.

Reducing food waste

In its effort to take a comprehensive approach to waste management, Royal Caribbean Group plans to reduce food waste across the fleet by 50 percent by 2025. To do so, the cruise company is implementing initiatives across its brands including:

• developing a proprietary platform to monitor food supply and accurately estimate how much food should be produced, prepared and ordered on a given day;
• using artificial intelligence (AI) to adjust food production in real time;
• hiring a dedicated onboard food waste professional to monitor and train crew members; and
• tracking guest demand for specific menu items and adjusting menu preparation and ordering, accordingly.

The company also plans to create a food waste awareness campaign in crew dining areas fleetwide.

To date, Royal Caribbean Group has achieved a 24 percent reduction in food waste by focusing on the front end of the food system, addressing many of the main causes of food waste, including inventory management and over-preparing.

Expanding Green Hubs

Since the company’s first environmental initiative—Save the Waves—aimed at ensuring no solid waste goes overboard, Royal Caribbean Group says it has increased its accountability and strengthened waste management practices. It developed Green Hubs, a capacity-building program, to identify waste vendors in strategic destinations. The program has helped divert 92 percent of the company’s waste from landfills. Since its start in 2014, the program has grown to 33 ports worldwide.

Now joining the Green Hub program is the Galapagos Islands, where the Silversea became the first cruise ship to gain certification in environmental management by diverting all waste from landfill, Royal Caribbean says.