Major ports, especially those visited by cruise ships, have been caught out by regulations that since January ban the dumping of nearly all kinds of waste at sea. Although cruise companies say most ports are equipped to process large quantities of standard garbage, they complain that too many have inadequate facilities for handling not only hazardous waste but also recyclables. And even when there are such facilities, the ports are charging "sky-high tariffs" to do so, pointed out Francesco Balbi,environmental co-ordinator at MSC Cruises. At certain ports, cruise ships are forced to hire outside contractors with recycling facilities at considerable extra cost. Most ports accept only a specific amount of waste per ship on an 'indirect cost'basis - volumes surplus to these limits must be disposed of at additional cost to the vessel. As Balbi pointed out: "Ports are not taking the opportunity to collect our recyclables properly and make money with them.
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