City starts pickup of bulky
items on Waianae Coast

Monthly service will begin in April
after a first wave of pickups

Mayor Mufi Hannemann's administration is gearing up for next week's expansion to the Waianae Coast of regular monthly trash pickup of furniture, appliances and other bulky items.

Service schedule Expansion of regular bulky-item pickup service will begin next week along the Waianae Coast. Here is the schedule: » On Monday, set bulky items on the curb if you live on the town side of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Mailiili Road and Lualualei Homestead Road. The area runs from Honokai Hale through Nanakuli and Maili. Items will be picked up street by street by city crews sometime between March 1 and 12. » On March 13, set your bulky items out on the curb if you live on the other side of Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Mailiili Road and Lualualei Homestead Road. The area runs from Waianae through Makaha and Makua. Your items will be picked up sometime between March 14 and 31. When: Regular collection for the entire coast will commence on the first Monday of each month beginning in April. Information: Call 692-5656 or visit www.opala.org.

"The goal is to make sure all parts of Oahu will be able to have regularly scheduled bulky item pickup so you no longer need to pick up the phone and call the city and ask for them to come and pick it up," the mayor said yesterday.

In what is dubbed "Opala Nui Clean Out," the coast will be divided into two sections in the first wave of pickups, said Eric Takamura, director of the city Department of Environmental Services.

"We're going to actually try to clean out the neighborhood," he said.

Residents who live between Honokai Hale and Maili are asked to leave their oversize items on the curb on Monday. Pickup will occur from Tuesday until March 12, although there is no definitive date on when a particular home or street might be serviced.

Those living from Mailiili Road and Lualualei Homestead Road are asked to leave their bulky items on the curb on March 13, and pickup will occur from March 14 to 31.

"We anticipate a large volume of bulky items, so we're going to come back and redo it again April 4," Takamura said.

From April on, the entire coast will be serviced regularly on the first Monday of the month.

Currently, residents living between Hawaii Kai and Aliamanu have regularly scheduled collection of bulky goods, while other residents have to call for the next available pickup date in their neighborhood.

"Because the mayor wants to have this real close coordination with (the United Public Workers union), we are going to sit down ... and work with them on developing regularly scheduled once-a-month pickup," Takamura said. "If we have the equipment and resources available, we will then move to Sector 2, which is Kapolei-Ewa."

Hannemann and members of his administration had been in talks with the union to resolve issues related to the bulky-item expansion and moving the program completely under Takamura's department. Currently, bulky-item pickup in areas outside of urban Honolulu are handled by the Department of Facility Maintenance.

"We were able to sit at the table and iron out some of the concerns that they had, so we're going to be able to do this with city workers," Hannemann said.

The city has printed brochures and has begun running radio spots -- at a cost of $30,000 -- to get the word out during the next two weeks.