Do wastebaskets exist in Star Trek?
- Thread starter Melakon
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IrishNero
Commodore
As there are transporters, I would imagine their utility would expand far beyond beaming people from place to place. If you had the capability to disassemble people at the atomic level and re-construct them someplace else, then I'm sure you could take bags of waste, disassemble them and send the materials streaming into the endless expanse of space as a group of random atoms, or store the materials in a holding compartment, to be used by the replicators to construct other things later. That would create a cycle of utility that re-uses almost everything that a Starship crew creates, and that includes human waste. On a molecular or atomic level, even things that are thought of as vile (such as the aforementioned poo) may be taken apart and re-assembled into something that is useful. And yes, that means that yesterday's poo could be part of the hamburger that you're eating in the mess hall today...
In the ENT era, there are only basic protein resequencers as far as replication goes. We can assume that these systems are not complex enough to break down garbage into something usable because said system would be incapable of making anything with the broken down material. Therefore, waste is handled much as it is today. It is collected in baskets and then taken to a dedicated facility, perhaps where it is converted into a source of power.
In the TOS era, replicator technology is not present on starships (although food synthesizers were) but were used in industrial applications. It stands to reason that garbage was collected in baskets in the bathrooms of each cabin, and then either the crew member assigned to the cabin or a crew member who had been assigned trash duty would collect it in some centralized place. When the ship next docked at a location which had the replicator technology required to process the garbage, they would unload it all.
In the TNG era, replicators are nearly ubiquitous. Disposing of trash is as simple as placing it in a replicator. As shown in VOY when Janeway orders Chakotay to scrap the watch he was giving her for a birthday present in order to recover the spent energy, the conversion of matter back into energy recovers a significant amount of power which was used to make the object (VOY: Year of Hell part II). Ships and stations also feature waste extraction systems which can be assumed to turn human waste into energy in the same way.
In the TOS era, replicator technology is not present on starships (although food synthesizers were) but were used in industrial applications. It stands to reason that garbage was collected in baskets in the bathrooms of each cabin, and then either the crew member assigned to the cabin or a crew member who had been assigned trash duty would collect it in some centralized place. When the ship next docked at a location which had the replicator technology required to process the garbage, they would unload it all.
In the TNG era, replicators are nearly ubiquitous. Disposing of trash is as simple as placing it in a replicator. As shown in VOY when Janeway orders Chakotay to scrap the watch he was giving her for a birthday present in order to recover the spent energy, the conversion of matter back into energy recovers a significant amount of power which was used to make the object (VOY: Year of Hell part II). Ships and stations also feature waste extraction systems which can be assumed to turn human waste into energy in the same way.
The occasional dead hooker.
Wasn't there a line in that one TNG episode with the racially insensitive portrayal of simple 'Irish' folk that mentioned that the ship was "self cleaning?"
Yes, Riker mentioned it to the Irish hottie just before he showed her how to clean herself.
Maybe the waste baskets, in TNG time, are like the chairs at the Ops stations behind Worf on the Bridge -- they simply pull out of a wall and the replicator is connected to it and simply quietly recycles anything put into it, out of sight.
We've actually seen parts of bathrooms before in Trek. In TNG[/i] we breifly saw what looked like part of a toilet. Another time, in TNG, I recall a character (maybe Troi) using a sink. In Voyager Torres took a sonic shower*.
No more "cold showers" in the future.
We've actually seen parts of bathrooms before in Trek. In TNG[/i] we breifly saw what looked like part of a toilet. Another time, in TNG, I recall a character (maybe Troi) using a sink. In Voyager Torres took a sonic shower*.
No more "cold showers" in the future.
The TNG episode where they devolved into monkies/spider people showed a bathtub in Troi's quarters.
I assume that was also the room with the toilet. Also didn't the crew quarters have a retractable sink basin that was part of the vanity?
I assume that was also the room with the toilet. Also didn't the crew quarters have a retractable sink basin that was part of the vanity?
The system doesn't need to make anything with the waste, though. Assuming the power required was low enough to allow its use, you could have a system which is simply designed to break down the trash and transport it to a collection point (or just outside the ship) without requiring the crew to waste their time dragging trash around the ship.
I don't think there would have been any energy recovered from feeding the pocket watch back into the replicator, rather energy would have been expended in order to recycle the watch.
I believe that Janeway's concern was the public image of the first officer giving the captain a replicated item for her birthday while the ship was on limited power and replicator restrictions. It wouldn't look good in the eyes of the crew, senior officers having a separate set of rules. IIRC, Chakotay created the watch prior to the (then) current emergency, but that made no difference to Janeway.
Chakotay would have saved the ship power by not recycling the watch, which is what he did, although likely not for that reason.
If the replicator was capable of generating energy by consuming material, the ship wouldn't ever be in short supply of power. Perhaps not enough to power the warp drive, but simply by feeding it random debris the replicator would be self-powering.
Which it isn't.
"The ship cleans itself."
I don't think there would have been any energy recovered from feeding the pocket watch back into the replicator, rather energy would have been expended in order to recycle the watch.
I believe that Janeway's concern was the public image of the first officer giving the captain a replicated item for her birthday while the ship was on limited power and replicator restrictions. It wouldn't look good in the eyes of the crew, senior officers having a separate set of rules. IIRC, Chakotay created the watch prior to the (then) current emergency, but that made no difference to Janeway.
Chakotay would have saved the ship power by not recycling the watch, which is what he did, although likely not for that reason.
If the replicator was capable of generating energy by consuming material, the ship wouldn't ever be in short supply of power. Perhaps not enough to power the warp drive, but simply by feeding it random debris the replicator would be self-powering.
Which it isn't.
But retrieving random debris would probably expend more power via the transporter or tractor beam than is gained by recycling via the replicator. It seems that the gains from recycling are relatively small.
It may be that the replicator is able to extract energy from the breaking apart of molecular bonds in the same way that a fission reactor breaks apart heavy atoms.
Also, there are lines from the episode which support this:
She wouldn't have said that the watch could "mean the difference between life and death" if she were simply doing it symbolically.
I think that energy is recovered in the recycling process, but Chakotay would probably argue that the energy gained from recycling is relatively insignificant, although possibly enough to create a hypospray or pair of boots according to Janeway.
One of the things that bothered me about that scene was whether Janeway would have ordered the watch be recycled if it was an authentic antique. If resources were so precious, why weren't they recycling all the decorative art aboard during YoH? Got a chair in your office for visitors? Get rid of it and make them stand. Got a framed picture of your dog? Recycle it.
Federation starships always dump their trash just before the jump to hyperspace...
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Worf used his desk drawer as a trash can when he frakked up that ship model when Riker hit his doorbell.
I just had 4 Coronas with my Taco Bell, so my typing (and reasoning) might be a little hazy.
I just had 4 Coronas with my Taco Bell, so my typing (and reasoning) might be a little hazy.
Janeway: That watch represents a meal, a hypospray, or a ...
I was going to bring up the possibility of recycling a chair, hell they could go down to the lower decks and dismantle the wall panels if the need for power was unusual.
That's if the replicator could generate power by consuming matter.
In the days before replicators. I'd like to imagine that the wastebaskets and dirty clothes hampers are like the automated carts you see in hospitals. While in a person's cabin they are concealed in a cabinet with an access door above. They are mobile and smart. When a person is away from their cabin, the wastebasket and hamper leave the cabin and proceed to either the waste management center or the ship's laundry. Meanwhile a fresh empty hamper and and wastebasket from a storage room replace them in the person's cabin. Once a person's laundry is done. It's returned to the cabin with a automated cart like those used in hotels. All of this movement can be done in off hours so nobody will see the carts running about the corridors.
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