“It came from smart people doing hundreds and hundreds of hours of study,” Peters said. RECYCLING’S COSTS, BENEFITS CAUSE STRIFE ADVERTISING BY NANCY COOK LAUER WEST HAWAII TODAY ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com In the short term, it costs a lot more to recycle
RECYCLING’S COSTS, BENEFITS CAUSE STRIFE
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
In the short term, it costs a lot more to recycle than to just toss everything in the landfill. But landfill life is limited, and creating a new lined landfill under updated Environmental Protection Agency rules could run into the millions of dollars.
That’s the thinking behind the county Department of Environmental Management, which is working feverishly to remove recyclables, green waste and organic materials from the county’s garbage before it ever hits the mountains of garbage building up at the West Hawaii landfill, but especially at the Hilo landfill, which, in December 2009, had an estimated lifespan of only five to eight more years.
The County Council and the administration agree the goals are worthy. But both sides have recently butted heads over the best way to accomplish these goals.
An administration move for after-the-fact changes to specifications for a green waste contract last month was rejected by the majority of council members, who feared the contract was being tailor-made for a specific contractor. The Department of Environmental Management withdrew its request, fearing the contract resolution would be voted down. A spokeswoman said the department is considering its next step.
The council this week will consider another contract, this one for recycling, after it was put off in the face of opposition from smaller recycling haulers, who say the contract is written so only a very few big recycling haulers can compete.
And earlier this month, Council Chairman Dominic Yagong and Mayor Billy Kenoi took their disagreements to a new, political level, with Yagong accusing the mayor of kowtowing to public-sector unions rather than looking out for the taxpayers’ best interest by refusing to consider a public-private partnership to use a $9.3 million sort station that currently sits idle.
Over half of the garbage going into the landfill is green waste, paper and food scraps, according to a September 2008 waste composition study. Plastic, aluminum, glass, newspaper and other recyclables are steadily being removed from the waste stream, but not as quickly as first anticipated.
Hawaii County residents recycled 35.9 percent of the island’s waste in 2010, the latest data available. That’s higher than the 19.1 percent in 2005, but it still falls woefully short of the county’s ambitious goal to divert 50 percent of the solid waste from landfills by 2008 and 80 percent by 2013.
The county uses a two-bin system to collect recyclables at the county’s 21 transfer stations. One bin is strictly for glass. The other bin is a mixed bag of paper, cardboard, plastic and metals. In addition, cardboard is separated into its own bin at the Hilo and Puuanahulu landfills.
County Recycling Coordinator Linda Peters said the county opted for the two-bin system to make it more convenient for residents. Although bales of mixed recyclables aren’t as valuable as those separated into paper, glass and metal components, the convenience means many more residents will recycle rather than throw everything away, she said. That extends the lives of the landfills, she said.
Business Services Hawaii currently holds the county contract to pick up the recyclables from the transfer stations, further separate them, bale them and send the bales off-island. Final destinations for the bales include sites in Asia and the mainland. In addition, the company grinds glass to mix with concrete and into sand, materials that are used at county facilities around the island.
The program has recently come under fire, when environmental managers sought County Council approval for a new, three-year hauling contract.
West Hawaii recycling business owner, Mike Allen of Atlas Recycling, and Ocean View resident Mike Dubois, a self-described community activist involved in trash cleanups, raised questions about the cost effectiveness of the county’s two-bin recycling program.
Allen maintains the current system costs upward of $230 a ton for recycling. In comparison, the tipping fee — the amount haulers are charged to dump their load at the landfill — is $85 a ton.
Allen says the program was started in 2007, and there has never been an evaluation done to ensure the current system is the most efficient and cost-effective program. He thinks a better alternative would be to allow schools to set up closed recycling bins on campus, such as is done on Oahu, and be able to use the money collected to supplement education funds.
“The county has no idea. They don’t monitor the program. We’ve done the numbers, and the numbers stink,” Allen said of the current county system. “They’ve done no review, so they don’t know what’s going on.”
Peters, however, said the average cost for hauling recyclables, including a diversion grant for keeping materials out of the landfill, comes to $175 a ton. She said the current method was chosen after a comprehensive study of alternatives by a citizen committee working the Integrated Resources and Solid Waste Plan.
“It came from smart people doing hundreds and hundreds of hours of study,” Peters said.
