Landfill alternatives
cause rift on Big Isle
HILO >> The Hilo landfill must be closed some time in the next 24 months, Barbara Bell, Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management head, told the County Council yesterday.
Unless an East Hawaii alternative is found, 190 tons of garbage a day will then have to be trucked to the county's only other landfill, at Puuanahulu in West Hawaii.
Despite a plea by Bell to the Council yesterday, the two branches of county government remained at odds over how to solve the problem.
Mayor Harry Kim's administration, represented by Bell, wants to build a "sort station" staffed by county employees to remove recyclable material from trash that goes into the landfill.
The administration has some money to build such a facility, but in a 6-3 vote two weeks ago, the Council took away $500,000 that the administration needs to start operating it.
The Council majority wants to wait for proposals by private companies to operate both the sort station and a "waste reduction" facility, a term that has not been defined yet, but which could mean an incinerator similar to Honolulu's HPOWER plant.
But a waste reduction facility could also mean using bacteria to turn garbage into fuel gas, a process called anaerobic digestion, or using high heat to turn garbage into fuel gas, called thermal gasification.
The Council instructed Bell to request proposals for both sorting and a waste reduction facility by Sept. 30.
Bell also wants a waste reduction facility, but she told the Council there is not enough time to do them both together.
The sort station could be built in 8 1/2 months, she said. That's quick enough to add life to the Hilo landfill by recycling up to 45 percent of the bulk of East Hawaii trash, she said.
The combined sorting and waste reduction facility, involving the potentially complicated process of requesting proposals, would need at least 10 extra months, Bell said. Building the waste facility would require at least four more years after that.
Bell made no converts. Councilman Michael Tulang, who pushed for the combined facility, said he would not change his position.
Councilman Joe Reynolds said he did not believe Bell's timetable. Councilman Fred Holschuh said he wanted at least to see the kind of proposals companies might make.
County of Hawaii