The 'world's largest cruise ship' has created a high-tech recycling system to process millions of pounds of water, food, waste and avoid polluting the oceans

Kenneth Niemeyer,Abby NarishkinFeb 2, 2023, 02:45 IST

Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the SeasRoyal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas has a high-tech recycling system.
The Symphony of the Seas is a 361-meter — nearly 1,200 feet — cruise liner.

Cruise ships produce a lot of trash, but there are no garbage trucks to come and pick up waste when they're out at sea. So, where does all the garbage go?

Workers near the swimming pool aboard The Symphony of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, docking at Saint Nazaire port, western France, Friday, March 23, 2018.(AP Photo/David Vincent)

Waste disposal is a problem cruise lines have been dealing with for years.

Marine pollution, mainly made up of plastic bottles and polystyrene floating in Hinnavaru Harbour, Maldives, Indian Ocean.Rosemary Calvert/Getty Images

Cruise lines started designing ways to purify water and handle waste inside their ships.

A water filtration system on a Royal Caribbean ship.Insider Business

Carnival Cruise Lines' Symphony of the Seas is a "zero landfill ship," which means it uses recycling and water filtration to deal with its own waste.

Symphony of the SeasInsider Business

The ship's crew separates glass into colors and can process up to 13,000 lbs of glass for a week-long cruise.

Green glass waste on the Symphony of the Seas.Insider Business

Each one of the ship's 36 kitchens has a suction drain.

A suction drain on a cruise ship.Insider Business

Food waste is carried through a giant pipe to a food processor at the bottom of the ship, where it is incinerated.

The food processor on the Symphony of the Seas.Insider Business

The ship's crew crushes around 528 gallons of water bottles per week.

A pallet of water bottles on the Symphony of the Seas.Insider Business

Cardboard and aluminum cans are sent through a bailer.

Aluminum cans crushed in a bailer on the Symphony of the Seas.Insider Business

The Symphony of the Seas has two incinerator rooms.

Compacted metal recyclables.Insider Business

Cubes of aluminum trash are stored in a refrigerator to prevent the smell from spreading to other parts of the ship for up to seven days.

Cubes of aluminum trash stored in a refrigerator.Insider Business

Grey water, from sinks, laundries, and drains and black water, from toilets, are mixed together in a water purification system before being dumped back into the sea.

A cruise ship's water purification system.Insider Business

When the ship docs in Miami, the plastic, paper, and glass are offloaded to go to partner recycling facilities.

Recyclables being offloaded from the Symphony of the Seas in Miami.Insider Business

Millions of mines and unexploded grenades are scattered across Afghanistan. Locals say helping collect the metal for cash is how they feed their families.

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