DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Miki Andres, a Rolloffs Hawaii employee, showed a bottle Thursday that can be redeemed for 5 cents at the company's "mobile redemption center." Behind her, Dominic Henriques stood at one end of the truck that contains machines that will redeem and recycle containers.

More recycling
centers sought

Some communities lack easy
access to redemption sites

To get your 5-cent deposit back for cans, bottles and other beverage containers starting tomorrow, you're going to have to want it.

As the state's Beverage Container Law, more commonly known as the Bottle Bill, takes effect, there are 43 state-approved redemption sites where trash can be converted to cash: 22 on Oahu, nine on Maui, five each on the Big Island and Kauai, and one each on Molokai and Lanai.

For most rural areas, the nearest redemption center is more than an hour's drive away. And even in Oahu's more populated areas, there is rarely more than one per community.

"I hope they get more," Kahaluu resident Roberta Taira said Thursday as she loaded groceries into her car at the Kaneohe Star Market. "That would be more convenient."

Many shoppers interviewed at the Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center said they believe more people will redeem their empties for a deposit if they could do it at grocery stores. There is the only one redemption center between Kailua and Kahuku.

But for now, stores are taking a wait-and-see attitude, said Ed Thompson, spokesman for the Hawaii Food Industry Association, an organization of grocery stores and beverage distributors.

"There are retailers that are seriously looking at being redemption centers," Thompson said. Under the law, if there's not at least one redemption center within a two-mile radius in urban areas by July 1, the state may designate a retail store to be a redemption center. The state Department of Health, which is implementing the law, expects that customer demand will lead to more centers on each island, said spokeswoman Laura Lott.

Though the law officially takes effect today, all redemption centers are closed for New Year's Day and many are closed Sundays.

When people buy beverage containers with 64 or fewer ounces of water, beer, soda, juice, etc., they will pay a 5-cent refundable deposit and a 1-cent handling fee. Milk, hard liquor and wine are exempt.

As of today, all affected beverages must be labeled. Though a store could face a $10,000 fine for having unlabeled containers, the Health Department "is really more interested in working with retailers than carrying a big stick at this point," Lott said.

The deposit fee has been charged on marked bottles since Nov. 1, so people may have bags full of containers to cash in when the centers open. Residents and visitors slurp an estimated 67 million beverages a month, so the potential mountain of empties is significant.

Not knowing how many stored containers may show up for redemption, Terry Telfer, president of Reynolds Recycling Inc., said: "We're not encouraging people to even come down the first few days. Come down when all the sites are open and there's not too many people at a site."

Reynolds has converted all its existing recycling locations -- 19 on Oahu and several on neighbor islands -- to redemption centers and plans to add more. The company has reverse vending machines at its Halawa site, is installing them at a storefront in Enchanted Lakes, and has 60 more of the machines available to retailers.

Oahu garbage-hauling company Rolloffs Hawaii has formed a recycling subsidiary and plans to recycle from fixed locations in Kapolei and Sand Island. It also will offer a roving truck that will park 8 a.m. to noon tomorrow next to the Jack In The Box in Kaneohe.

Recyclers on the Big Island are also offering redemption at some locations once or twice a month.

Bonnie Goodell, a bed-and-breakfast owner on the Big Island, noted that nearby Volcano is offering deposit refunds only twice a month on Monday afternoons. "For most people, that would be a drag," Goodell said. It will be like the old days when the Volcano post office wasn't open on Saturdays or after 3 p.m. on weekdays, the very times most people were likely to be home from work, she said.

Oahu recycling drop-offs

Aiea

Reynolds Recycling
(Halawa Industrial Area)
99-1160 Iwaena St.
Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Ewa Beach

Reynolds Recycling
(behind Star Market)
91-919 Fort Weaver Road
Ewa Beach Shopping Center
Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m.

Haleiwa

Reynolds Recycling
Haleiwa Shopping Center
66-145 Kamehameha Highway
Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m.

Hawaii Kai

Reynolds Recycling
Hawaii Kai Park and Ride
300 Keahole St.
Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Kahuku

Kahuku Sugar Mill
(near Kaiser Permanente)
56-565 Kamehameha Highway
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Kailua

Reynolds Recycling
Aikahi Park Shopping Center
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Kalama Valley

Reynolds Recycling
Kalama Village Center
501 Kealahou St.
Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Kalihi

Reynolds Recycling
Kalihi Shopping Center
2295 N. King St.
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Kaneohe

Reynolds Recycling
Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center
(behind Safeway)
46-047 Kamehameha Highway
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Rolloffs Hawaii mobile truck
45-950 Kamehameha Highway
(next to Jack In The Box)
Sundays only, 8 a.m. to noon
Additional mobile service with scheduled stops at churches and schools to be announced via www. rolloffshawaii.com.

Kapolei

Reynolds Recycling
Kapolei Shopping Center
(next to Safeway)
91-590 Farrington Highway
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.- noon

Campbell Industrial Park
Rolloffs Hawaii
91-165 Kalaeloa Blvd.
Mon-Sat., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sun., 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Kunia

Reynolds Recycling
Kunia Park and Ride
94-640 Kupuohi St.
Fridays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Mililani

Reynolds Recycling
Town Center of Mililani
(across from Star Market)
95-1249 Meheula Parkway
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-noon

Mililani Mauka

Reynolds Recycling
Mililani Mauka Park and Ride
95-1101 Ukuwai St.
Saturdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Moiliili

Reynolds Recycling
2424 S. Beretania St. (at Isenberg)
Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Nanakuli

Reynolds Recycling
Pacific Shopping Mall of Nanakuli
(behind Sack N Save)
87-2070 Farrington Highway
Tues.-Sat., 1 p.m.-5 p.m.

Pearl City

Reynolds Recycling
Pearl City Shopping Center
(mauka of bowling alley)
850 Kamehameha Highway
Mon.-Sun., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Sand Island

RRR Recycling Center
1020 Ulupono St.
Mon.-Sat., 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Wahiawa

Reynolds Recycling
(former Tamura's Warehouse Outlet)
1001 California Ave.
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-noon

Waipahu

Reynolds Recycling
(next to Times Supermarket)
94-766 Farrington Highway
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.
Sun., 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Waianae

Reynolds Recycling
Waianae Shopping Mall
(behind City Mill)
86-120 Farrington Highway
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

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Neighbor Islands
recycling drop-offs

BIG ISLAND

Numerous traveling sites also will be offered at Big Island locations for several hours per month. For information call Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management at 961-8942.

Hilo

Atlas Recycling
30 Makaala St., Hilo
Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sat., 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

Kailua-Kona

Atlas Recycling
74-5599 Pawai Place, Kailua-Kona
Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sat., 7 a.m.-noon

Near Kailua-Kona Convenience Center
Mon. and Wed.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sat. and Sun., 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
(closed 1-2 p.m.)

Keaau

Keaau Convenience Center
Mon. and Wed.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sat. and Sun. 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
(closed 1-2 p.m.)

Waimea

Waimea Convenience Center
Mon. and Wed.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sat. and Sun., 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
(closed 1-2 p.m.)

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MAUI

For more information call Recycle Maui County at 270-7880.

Kahului

Reynolds Recycling
261 Dairy Road
Mon.-Sat., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Maui County Drop Box
Recycling Center
Maui Community College
Wahine Road (between Kaahumanu and Kahului Beach Road across from MACC)
Wed.-Sun., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; large loads 8 a.m.-noon

Aloha Recycling
75 Amala Place, off Hobron Ave.
(makai of Hana Highway)
Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Puunene

Maui Disposal Material Recovery Facility
2000 Mokulele Highway
Central Maui Baseyard
Tues.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; large loads 10 a.m.-noon
Sat., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; large loads 9 a.m.-noon

Wailuku

Maui Disposal Office
280 Imi Kala St.
(across from Wailuku Post Office)
Tues.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; large loads 10 a.m.-noon
Sat., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; large loads 9 a.m.-noon

Maui Kihei Drop Box
Recycling Center
(off Welakahao Road, between Piilani Highway and S. Kihei Road)
Wed.-Sun., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; large loads 8 a.m.-noon

Lahaina

Keawe St.
(across from Cannery Mall)
Mauka of Hooapiilani Highway
Wed.-Sun., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Makawao

Maui County Drop Box
Recycling Center
(behind Kalama Intermediate School)
Halekipa Road, off Makani Road
Sat.-Sun., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; large loads 8 a.m.-noon

Haiku

Maui County Drop Box
Recycling Center
(by Haiku Community Center/ Haiku Elementary School)
Hana Highway and Pauwela Road
Fri.-Sat., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; large loads 8 a.m.-noon

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KAUAI

For information call Kauai County Recycling at 241-6891.

Kapaa

Garden Island Disposal
Kojima Store
05-1543 Kuhio Highway
Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Kapahi

Reynolds Recycling
5675B Kawaihau Road, Kapaa
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Lawai

Garden Island Disposal
02-3687 Kaumualii Highway
Sat. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

Lihue

Garden Island Disposal
2666 Niumalu Road
Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.
Sat., 8 a.m.-noon

Nawiliwili Harbor

Reynolds Recycling (near Hale Kauai)
Corner of Wilcox and Kanoa streets
Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed for lunch, noon-1 p.m.

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LANAI

Lanai City

Old Freight Yard
Off Ninth Street Extension
Mon., Wed., Fri., 1-5 p.m.
Sat., 9 a.m.-noon

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MOLOKAI

Naiwa

Recycle Molokai
Molokai ISWM Facility
Mon.-Wed. and Fri., 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Thurs., Sat. and Sun., 8 a.m.-noon

City crews to be tapped
for recycling

Mayor-elect Mufi Hannemann said the city won't use private contractors to collect newspapers, glass and other recyclables from homes.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's off the table," he said yesterday. "I really believe we can do it with the city crew that we have now."

Hannemann said he is close to a deal with the United Public Workers union, which represents city refuse workers, that could pave the way for curbside recycling to begin. The UPW endorsed Hannemann during the election.

"I believe we're on track to try to work out the differences, iron out the wrinkles because I really want to get that back on track," said Hannemann, who takes office tomorrow. "I'm very optimistic that we're going to be able to at least get an agreement in the first month that we're in office."

Mayor Jeremy Harris' plan to start curbside recycling islandwide was put on hold after the UPW won a court order from a state judge in November to prevent the city from proceeding until a union grievance is resolved. The union argued that using private companies to pick up the recyclables violates the current collective bargaining agreement.

The Harris' administration put out bids to have private companies collect recyclables, saying curbside recycling is a new service that is not covered by the contract.

Two companies were apparent low bidders to collect recyclables, but no contracts have been signed.