City recycling program focuses on green waste

LINDA HENRIQUES, who owns Rolloffs Hawaii Inc., stated her position regarding recycling ("Gathering Place," Nov. 30). Although Henriques and others want the city to perform regular curbside pickup of cans, bottles and paper for recycling, that's simply not the best way to use taxpayer dollars, nor would it significantly reduce the volume of solid waste going into our landfills. That is why the Hannemann administration is shifting the city's focus to recycling green waste.

In March 2004 the consulting firm of R.W. Beck, hired by the Harris administration, completed an evaluation report on the city's Mililani Curbside Recycling Pilot Program. It concluded that the curbside pickup program had only a small effect, increasing the number of households that recycle from 63 percent before the program started to 68 percent while the program was under way. The consultant's recommendation was to provide twice-weekly refuse pickup with biweekly green waste pickup and no curbside pickup of mixed recyclables. The Beck firm made this recommendation based upon the cost-effectiveness of that scenario, the potential for diverting the most waste from the municipal stream and the fact that there is an existing operational facility to accept the green waste.

While Rolloffs/BLT submitted a bid to pay the city for curbside pickup of paper, cans and bottles, it's problematic whether that bid would have resulted in a contract. In addition to challenges from the other bidders, questions were raised whether any of the bidders had the proper permits. Rather than build false expectations or wait 10 years for a solution, this administration is moving ahead with realistic solutions. The environment demands it.

The Hannemann administration is committed to:

» increasing our waste-to-energy capacity;

» expanding the use of the white recycling bins at schools, while providing for more financial incentives for each school;

» assisting the state's HI5 program by providing more redemption sites;

» providing public outreach and educational events (such as the very successful "Discover Recycling" fair) to get the message to the public;

» expanding our current curbside green waste recycling efforts by providing bins islandwide for automated pickup.

These all benefit the city because the more waste that's recycled means that much less in the municipal waste stream, and that increases the operational capacity of the H-POWER waste-to-energy facility, thus reducing what ultimately gets sent to the landfill.

The program should increase the recycling of mixed recyclables. With the HI5 program gaining interest and the city providing more convenient redemption centers, aluminum cans and plastic and glass bottles will continue to be taken out of our waste stream.

With the potential of 123,000 tons out of a total of 200,000 tons of green waste yet to be recycled, the city plans to capture between 80,000 and 110,000 tons for recycling. The past administration's plan for mixed recycling was to capture approximately 30,000 additional tons. However, that number is no longer valid with the success of the HI5 program. A more accurate estimate would put the new islandwide capture amount at 20,000 tons. How much is that worth? How much would residents be willing to pay for curbside pickup of recyclables?

Two of the more successful recycling programs are in Portland, Ore., which recycles or diverts 57 percent of its refuse, and Long Beach, Calif., which has a 55 percent recycling rate. Both have monthly refuse collection fees based on the size of the refuse containers, while recyclables are collected for free. Monthly fees for one container in Long Beach range from $12 to $15, depending on the container size, and from $16 to $28 in Portland.

Our best estimate is that if 60 percent of Oahu households participated in curbside recycling of cans, bottles and paper, it would cost each home $20 a month. Currently, Honolulu does not charge for pickup, yet we have a diversion rate of approximately 63 percent (recycling, including what goes to the H-POWER plant).

Our recycling program was drawn up after lengthy deliberation, and takes into consideration economics as well as common sense, keeping in mind our goal of diverting waste from our landfills.

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