Installation of incinerators also implies considerable effort in crew training and development of management procedures. Systems for smaller ships would cost less and take up less space. The system cost would be more than $300,000, before installation. For example, a large unit, capable of burning the paper and plastic waste generated on an aircraft carrier, would occupy more than 1,000 ft 3 of space for the unit alone, and probably twice that much when auxiliary systems are included.

Even so, the cost of the equipment is high and considerable shipboard space is required. For this reason, incineration must be considered an important technology in connection with Navy compliance with Annex V restrictions. Incineration can virtually eliminate the volume of paper products and plastic found in the shipboard waste stream, thus reducing the compacted volume of waste for storage by an order of magnitude. In this chapter, the committee focuses on incineration. The mechanical processing methods discussed in Chapter 2 are mainly concerned with reducing the amount of air admixed with the waste material and converting the waste material to a substance that can be stored and transported with minimal difficulty.

Portal 2 incinerator room