Major cruise shipping companies dumped millions of pounds of trash at a private landfill in Juneau (Alaska’s capital) during season 2019. The City and Borough of Juneau provided data showing over 3.3 million pounds of garbage came off the vessels between January 1 and October 31 in 2019.
Juneau City Manager Rorie Watt asked the companies to stop the dumping, but he said that there was not much more he could do as they "don't regulate waste, garbage and hauling of garbage. So anything that we're able to do will be by negotiation with the cruise lines."
The landfill in Juneau is operated by the Texas-based company Waste Management Inc, which reported to the city that it had accepted 1534 tons of cruise garbage in 2019. Cruise ship waste made up ~5% of the garbage deposited in 2018-2019. However, the landfill is expected to be full in ~20 years.