Recycling cuts
costs, even makes
Hickam $60,000

An awards luncheon Thursday
furthers a state goal to recycle half
of Hawaii's waste by 2000

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

A $1,000-a-month trash bill put Tom Jones in the Dumpster.

"I said, 'My God, how could we be paying so much?'" said Jones, general manager of Columbia Inn and Kyotaru Restaurants. So he literally climbed into a Dumpster and analyzed his trash.

"It was a messy job," Jones said. But recycling his food waste, glass and cardboard now saves Jones $15,000 a year.

Jones, who has recycled since 1991, will share his money-saving recycling ways at the Fourth Annual Recycling Conference and Awards Luncheon Thursday at the Ihilani Resort and Spa.

Overall, Hawaii falls short in recycling because the state doesn't have enough waste to attract recycling companies, so must export its recyclables at a high cost, said Bruce Anderson, deputy director for environmental health, state Department of Health.

The department's goal is to recycle about half of Hawaii's waste by the year 2000. The state recycles nearly 24 percent today, he said.

To reach its 50-percent goal, the state is thinking of banning the disposal of commercial cardboard, office paper, newspaper and glass. It also wants to provide extra financial incentives to recyclers and land for recycling parks.

As for personal efforts, a gray bench that sits in Anderson's back yard is made of plastic "logs" from products recycled on Maui. The liners in his garden and at the Honolulu Zoo are also made from recycled plastic.

"They don't rot," he said of the "logs." "The downside is they're two to three times more expensive than lumber."

Recycled glass is used in asphalt for Hawaii's roads. And a lot of plastics and paper are burned for fuel at HPOWER, which turns garbage into energy.

Currently, the state collects recyclables from special bins at schools and parking lots.

"We believe pollution prevention and recycling are the most effective means for protecting our environment and reducing the cost of waste management," Anderson said.

But until Hawaii has a curbside recycling program, it will continue to stumble toward its goal, Anderson said.

"It's a question of economics. The city and county tried to do it," he said, "but it had to be heavily subsidized and was abandoned."

Hickam Air Force Base has the only curbside recycling program in Hawaii, said Capt. Romeo Miranda, at yesterday's Base Exchange for the second annual America Recycles Day.

"Hickam has one of the best recycling programs in the Air Force. We have half-a-million dollars' worth of equipment in a hangar and a staff of 10 people who collect glass, plastics, all grades of paper, lead-acid batteries, toner cartridges and scrap metal," Miranda said.

Recycling trucks pick up trash in both housing and industrial areas. Residents and personnel have been required to separate their trash since May 1997.

Workers bale the recyclables, and Island Recycling picks them up and ships them to Asia, Miranda said.

"Last year, we saved $200,000 and we made $60,000 to $70,000 in pure revenue."