foreign garbage in victoria?

What is foreign cruise ship garbage?

Fair Sailing defines ‘foreign garbage’ as solid and liquid wastes removed from cruise ships. Solid waste includes garbage, organics and recyclable goods. Liquid waste includes blackwater (sewage), grey water (from sinks, showers, laundry), oily waste.

Cruise waste that is being offloaded is usually separated into non-hazardous waste and hazardous waste. Hazardous waste can include paint, dry cleaning solution, scrubber residue, print waste, medical wastes and more.

what kind of SOLID WASTE MATERIALS come off the cruise ships?

In a May 2021 ‘Waterside Chat on Waste Management,’ a representative from Tymac, which provides waste removal for cruise ships at Ogden Point, was asked to describe waste items removed from cruise ships in Victoria: “we’ve seen everything.”

Who handles foreign garbage at the Victoria cruise terminal?

In 2018, Tymac Launch Services contracted with the cruise lines to provide waste management services for solid and liquid waste materials from cruise ships at Ogden Point. The amount of international solid waste from cruise ships delivered to Hartland landfill increased from 304 tonnes in 2018 to 2,082 tonnes in 2019, the last year tonnage information was publicly released.

How much foreign wastes are offloaded in Victoria?

Tymac reported that they delivered 2,082 tonnes of high and low risk international solid waste to the regional Hartland Landfill in 2019. In the same year, they offloaded 5,204 tonnes of recyclable materials off the cruise ships. It appears that most of these materials were transported and recycled off-island. Tymac has not provided solid waste data beyond 2019.

Cruise ship waste has increased significantly since 2019, as the number of cruise ships on the Alaska itinerary stopping in Victoria has increased from 267 in 2019 to 334 expected in 2026.

In addition, Juneau, Alaska signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the cruise lines in 2022 to reduce garbage. This resulted in decreasing the amount of cruise waste at Juneau’s landfill from over 1,500 tonnes in 2019 to about 100 tonnes in 2023. Much of Juneau’s former waste likely now comes to Hartland Landfill via Seattle bound ships.

The amount of liquid and hazardous materials offloaded from cruise ships at Ogden Point and their end destinations are undisclosed. 

How much waste does a cruise ship generate?

Alaska-bound cruise ships must submit annual waste offloading plans to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. That information is available via a public database operated by the State of Alaska. Norwegian Cruise Lines filed documents estimating the amounts of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes they anticipated offloading in Victoria in 2026, as no wastes will be offloaded in Alaska. Per the filing: Hazardous waste is retained on-board and landed in Victoria, B.C., Canada; intends to offload non-hazardous solid waste in Victoria, B.C., Canada. Other cruise lines did not disclose estimated amounts or offload plans for Victoria.

Norwegian Joy (15 calls), Norwegian Bliss (24 calls), Norwegian Encore (24 calls) will carry a total estimated 256,000 passengers and 118,515 crew, so garbage offloaded could represent waste from 374,500 people for the season. Each ship appears to offload all wastes accumulated on their Alaska cruise from Seattle, approximately one week’s worth of wastes per call in Victoria. These three ships represent 19% of total ship calls in Victoria.

does garbage have to be offloaded in victoria?

No. Transport Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) do not mandate cruise ships to offload waste in Canada.

The International Marine Organization (IMO) requests that adequate waste facilities should be available in ports where there is a need for ships to discharge wastes ashore. Cruise ships have offloaded small quantities of waste for many years at Ogden Point which seemed to meet their needs and did not disturb the neighbourhood.

However, in 2018 a waste transfer station was established at Ogden Point, without consultation with the local community. Wastes delivered to Hartland Landfill jumped from an average of 300 tonnes a season to over 2,000 tonnes in 2019, with ever increasing tonnages since cruising resumed in 2022 after Covid. 

It is questionable whether there is a ‘need’ to offload wastes in Victoria. In 2021, the cruise industry resumed the Seattle/Alaska run after Covid without stopping in Victoria, as Canada did not allow the resumption of cruise traffic until 2022. Presumably, arrangements were made to remove waste materials in US ports.

Ultimately, the cruise lines decide where to offload their waste materials. They chose to sign a MOU with the Borough of Juneau in 2022 to reduce garbage, with both parties acknowledging that exceptions may be necessary. Today, very little cruise waste is offloaded in Alaska. Why can’t Victoria do the same?

does the crd have to accept cruise ship garbage at the landfill?

No. The CRD does not have to accept international waste. It has to seek approval from CFIA every three years to act as an international waste disposal site at Hartland Landfill. The CRD Board has a choice.

Prince Rupert does not accept international waste from cruise ships.

What happens after foreign garbage is offloaded at Ogden Point?

Large industrial trucks transporting solid and liquid waste materials drive through residential James Bay streets during the busy cruise season to Hartland Landfill and undisclosed locations on Vancouver Island and the mainland. The trucks cause wear and tear on the roads, lead to traffic congestion, generate noise, pose safety risks to pedestrians and cyclists, carry the potential for major spills of hazardous materials, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. 

How is cruise ship waste managed at hartland landfill?

At Hartland Landfill, solid waste from outside Canada is managed in accordance with Canada’s International Waste Directive under the authority of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The CFIA administers the International Waste Directive. The purpose of the regulation is to protect Canada’s agriculture by eliminating the import of materials that could pose risks to plant and animal health. The directive applies to international waste from aircrafts and ships originating in all countries, but not to ship’s refuse from ships originating in the US (which is deemed to be domestic waste).

The CBSA is responsible for the control, monitoring and disposal of international waste. They classify wastes as either ‘high risk’ international waste or ‘low risk’ domestic waste.

High risk waste is handled as controlled waste at Hartland Landfill. This means that it must be deep buried in controlled waste trenches and covered with a minimum of one metre of low permeability clay. It cannot be compacted which means that it consumes a lot more landfill space as compared to regular garbage (at an estimated air space consumption ratio of 3.1 to 1).

Low risk waste is disposed of and compacted along with regular refuse which means it takes up a lot less landfill space.

Prior to Covid, about 30% of cruise ship waste was designated as high risk. However, at the resumption of cruising in 2022, cruise ships on the west coast were designated as high risk, and all their waste was landfilled as controlled waste. It appears that this changed in 2025, when the CBSA revised their inspection procedures. This means that more cruise ship garbage is once again being handled as low risk waste.

How much do cruise ships pay for their garbage?

Until 2024, the charge for accepting international high and low risk cruise ship waste at Hartland Landfill was $157 per tonne. In July 2022, as a result of an initiative by Fair Sailing, the CRD Board voted to increase the tipping fee for international high risk cruise ship waste to $500/tonne, starting January 2024.

In 2022, CRD staff estimated that – based on 2019 cruise waste tonnages – the tipping fee increase would result in additional costs to the cruise lines (and revenue to the CRD) of $200,000/year. However, the CFIA/CBSA started classifying all cruise ship waste as high risk waste which would have resulted in significantly higher costs to the cruise industry (and revenues for the CRD) in 2024 when the new tipping fee came into effect, especially since tonnages would also have been much higher than in 2019.

In 2025, the CRD Board voted to increase the tipping fee for controlled waste from $157/tonne to $214/tonne. The current tipping fee for international low risk waste is listed as $135/tonne.

Recyclables, liquid and hazardous cruise wastes are managed by private companies at cost.

Why is Victoria taking garbage from ships that visit Alaska?

Over the past few years, the community has been told that the reasons the cruise lines want to unload their waste in Victoria are that the Port of Seattle does not have the capacity due to space constraints and that unloading waste in Victoria provides a faster turn-over for the ships in Seattle.

This information seems to be confirmed by Rebecca James in the Churchill Fellowship Report on cruise industry waste and recycling practices. She states that Victoria “is the preferred facility servicing cruise ships on the Seattle-Victoria-Alaska seasonal route, as Seattle is a turnaround port and waste is considered a nuisance when dealing with the passengers and their luggage, along with supplying the ship in a constrained dock space” (page 21).

Victoria takes foreign garbage to make things easier for the cruise lines. Most cruise ship calls to Victoria are on the last day of the Alaska cruise itinerary on their return to Seattle. They arrive in the evening and unload their waste before they leave around midnight, creating more activity and noise during their operations.

What about our waste reduction goals?

Accepting waste materials originating in another country is contrary to local and regional waste reduction goals. In July 2023, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy approved the new Capital Regional District (CRD) Solid Waste Management Plan. The plan has a goal of reducing waste to the regional landfill by more than one third by 2031. Accepting foreign garbage appears to run counter to this goal.

The regional Hartland Landfill has approximately 25 more years of landfilling capacity. In March 2026, the CRD Board directed staff to explore long-term options for waste disposal, including siting a new landfill site, building a thermal processing facility, pursuing emerging waste technology options, and even exporting waste.

Fair Sailing asks that the CRD stop importing foreign cruise waste at Hartland landfill. This would advance the goals of the CRD Solid Waste Management Plan by extending the life of the landfill and support regional Climate Action Strategy goals to reduce waste and road transportation emissions.

Where does cruise waste unloaded in victoria go?

Cruise waste materials are offloaded onto our island. The regional landfill accepts international solid waste. Most recyclables are transported off-island to the Lower Mainland for further handling. Liquid wastes appear to be taken up island. With no disclosure on the amount and types of wastes being transported and their end destinations, local and Island residents are not informed of the wastes being driven past their homes and through their communities.

Do Alaska ports accept cruise ship garbage?

In 2022, the Borough of Juneau in Alaska entered into an agreement with the cruise lines to reduce the amount of garbage going to their landfill. In 2023, waste was reduced by 90% - from 1,650 US tons to 125 US tons. It appears that most of these wastes may now be offloaded in Victoria or Vancouver, depending on the itinerary.

Do cruise ships have other options to offload their garbage?

Yes. In 2021, the cruise industry resumed the Seattle-Alaska run after Covid without stopping in Victoria, as Canada did not allow the resumption of cruise traffic until 2022. Presumably, arrangements to remove waste materials in Seattle were made. The industry has other ways of dealing with waste.

Is there a solution?

Yes. Fair Sailing advocates for all cruise wastes to be returned to their port-of-origin. Since 80% of ship calls start/end in Seattle, Victoria could significantly and immediately reduce cruise wastes being offloaded in our community if cruise ships hold their waste onboard for another six hours. This would also help Victoria and the province meet waste and GHG reduction targets.