If you’ve always wondered where all the trash goes on your Carnival cruise voyage, you might not actually want to know the answer. According to a court filing, Carnival has been releasing food waste and plastic into the ocean, failing to properly record waste disposals, creating false training records, and not reporting environmental compliance issues to inspectors after secret inspections. As a result, Carnival has been ordered to pay $20 million, undergo more inspections, devote more resources to ensure environmental compliance, reduce its single-use plastics on board, and hire teams to improve waste management procedures. Failure to do so will result in additional fines of $1 to $10 million per day.
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Carnival Hit With $20 Million Fine for Dumping Waste Into the Ocean
A Carnival representative told Business Insider, “These issues were unacceptable failures in our processes that were not in accordance with our policies and procedures, and do not reflect the culture we have built at Carnival Corporation and across our nine cruise line brands.”
This isn’t the first environmental issue Carnival has had, either. In 2017 Princess Cruises — a Carnival subsidiary — pled guilty to illegally releasing oil into the ocean, and was required to pay $40 million. Apparently, it didn’t learn its lesson.
The representative, however, promised a change of course, touting Carnival’s commitment to the environment as one of the company’s chief values. “Carnival Corporation remains committed to environmental excellence and protecting the environment in which we live, work, and travel,” they said. “Our aspiration is to leave the places we touch even better than when we first arrived.” 
H/T: Business Insider