Trash: it's gross, it smells and it piles up over time.

As much as any person hates the foul odors that come from our leftovers, someone has to roll up their sleeves and sort it by hand.

Working in loud, cramped rooms, Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) work day and night to ensure the ship's trash disposal operations run smoothly so the crew can work and live in sanitary conditions.

Trash is separated, processed and disposed of in accordance with OPNAVINST 5090.1C.

The instruction states that trash, defined as burnable material such as cardboard, paper and rags, will be incinerated when a ship is farther than 12 nautical miles from shore.

Garbage, defined as food contaminated material, will be pulped and discharged when farther than three nautical miles from shore. All plastic will be shredded, melted and held for shore disposal.

Larger food waste, glass and metal may be thrown overboard.

"It all starts with the crew doing their part to help make the process go a lot smoother," said Machinist's Mate 1st Class M. A. Campbell. "If our Sailors can help us out, then it will make shipboard waste management as efficient as possible."

Unsorted trash causes delays in trash drop-off and disposal. These issues are easily avoided when the trash is sorted properly.

According to Campbell, improperly sorted trash can also cause damage to machines. Trash must be labeled with the division, workcenter, contact phone number and the contents of the bag, before it is accepted.

"Sometimes we have to turn Sailors away if the bags aren't sorted," said Campbell. "If we put the wrong trash in the wrong machines, they will break."

Trash disposal at sea demands constant monitoring. Not only is it a sanitation issue, but proper trash separation and disposal safeguards the environment.

In order to meet sanitation and environmental standards, only authorized personnel, with permission from the commanding officer, may throw trash overboard.

Tossing trash during refueling, replenishment-at-sea, and flight operations is strictly prohibited. Metal can entangle and damage ships transiting nearby.

"The biggest message to the crew is to just sort the trash the way it's supposed to be," said Fireman M. S. Clark, a Truman Sailor assigned to the Solid Waste Processing Rooms.

Proper trash separation is important to our day-to-day operations and is an all-hands effort.

For more news from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), visit http://www.navy.mil/