An ingenious invention

On long voyages, such as the trip across the Pacific Ocean, large amounts of cardboard accumulate as the cartons of food are emptied. Nothing is thrown into the sea, and there is not an abundance of space on board. So chief engineer Jonas Hollænder Jensen came up with a smart solution to tidy up the mess.

- I compress the cardboard to decrease the volume. It makes it easier to deliver rubbish ashore. Instead of having eight cubic meters of cardboard boxes, we end up with 200 litres, says Jensen.

Only 0.2 cubic meters that is!

The invention has been named "Papinator 2000 ECO". The cardboard is ripped into pieces and soaked in a bucket until it is soft. With a drill and a large whisk, he then whips water and cardboard into a porridge.

The porridge is poured into a plastic container he has drilled a lot of small holes in, and compressed so that the water is squeezed out.

The cardboard lumps that remain are laid out to dry.

- There are some who think it is just an empty plastic can, but it is so much more than that. Several minutes of innovation have gone into this, Jensen smiles demonstrating his invention.

It is easy to carry the cardboard ashore, and Jensen says that his invention also saves money.

- We pay for volume when we deliver rubbish. It makes a big difference whether we have to pay for eight cubic meters or 0.2 cubic metres. There is both a financial gain and less mess.

The compression is done once a day, sometimes twice.