Problems with curbside recycling worth solving

I APPRECIATED the comments in your Oct. 23 editorial, "City should not dump recycling plan." As the low bidder, the following is our perspective on curbside recycling.

Our family has been in Hawaii for generations and we have owned private refuse companies in the islands for more than four decades. We know first hand about the increasing volume of refuse disposed of over the years, including the recyclable materials that residents throw in the trash. We agree that curbside recycling is an essential component of a city the size of Honolulu.

Our company -- through its recycling division, RRR Recycling Services -- has actively permitted certified redemption sites and worked hard providing a service to the community. We meet hundreds of customers weekly, and many residents are wondering when curbside recycling will begin.

While the original Request for Proposals commenced under former Mayor Jeremy Harris, the most recent RFP for curbside collection was done under Mayor Hannemann. He wrote in an Oct. 20 Star-Bulletin guest column, "Another snag appeared as one firm challenged the apparent low bid, triggering a lengthy process to comply with state procurement laws.

"That process has dragged on for months, and even if the city were to proceed and sign a contract with one of the three bidders, one or both of the others would likely challenge that, which could ultimately send the matter to the courts, causing further delays."

Delays in awards due to unforeseen challenges are common in all government bids and are not insurmountable. (The current bottle bill took more than 10 years, and it has problems that will continue to be worked on.) Even the state Department of Health was surprised by Mayor Hanneman's Oct. 18 announcement calling off Oahu's curbside recycling plan.

As a family-owned business, we have always worked extremely hard to provide dependable and efficient service. We expected to do the same with curbside recycling. We partnered with our long time business associate, BLT Enterprises, which has specialized for more than 15 years in the development and operation of recyclable material recovery facilities, including the processing and marketing of recyclable materials. BLT's projects include development of the Sacramento (Calif.) Recycling Facility, designed to process 2,500 tons daily of MSW waste and recyclables, and is currently operating the Burbank (Calif.) Recycling Facility, processing more than 150 tons daily of recyclables, as well as several other facilities.

We wanted to ensure the people of Hawaii of an efficient and dependable service.

We've often been asked how we could "pay" the city for this service when our competitors have bid to charge the city on each of the previous bids. "Payment" is possible through the operational and extensive commodity marketing expertise of our partner, BLT.

The current white recycle bin program is contracted to Honolulu Disposal/Honolulu Recovery. Both the hauling of the bins (Contract No. C75100, Proposal Document No. 13326) and commodity purchase contracts (RFP 13960) were set to expire Dec. 31, after completing allowed extensions to the contract. The City Environmental Services has chosen to extend these contracts an additional "emergency" six months. Per the contract terms, the city will own the recycle bins as of Dec. 31. There is no reason to extend this contract, as it would only require a competitive bid from current haulers.

There is also no reason to extend the "purchase of commodity" contract and instead allow competitive bids.

---