Curbside recycling on agenda for public
Mayor Mufi Hannemann's proposal to establish a comprehensive curbside recycling program is expected to be taken up at seven community meetings scheduled over the next two months.
Hannemann proposed in his State of the City address last month a curbside recycling program that calls for a weekly regular trash pickup and a recycling collection. Under the proposal, households opting for a second regular trash pickup each week would have to pay a $10-per-month fee.
More than rubbish
Six recycling meetings will take place in April and May from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at:
» Mililani Mauka Elementary on April 9.
» Kaiser High School on April 24.
» Kahuku High School on April 25.
» Mission Memorial Auditorium next to City Hall on May 8.
» Windward Community College on May 10.
» Kapolei Hale on May 21.
The seventh meeting will occur on May 12, but a place and time has yet to be determined. The city will invite high school leaders to attend that meeting.
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But Council Chairwoman Barbara Marshall said she's wondering why none of the meetings are scheduled for Kailua, which the mayor has previously said could be one of the first places to have the new program.
Hannemann has said that the proposed program could start by Sept. 1 in Windward Oahu and either Mililani or Hawaii Kai and that there is about $1 million in proposed startup costs for curbside recycling in next fiscal year's operating budget request.
Single-family households currently have automated twice-weekly trash pickup and twice-monthly green waste collection.
"How we manage our island's waste will affect generations to come," the mayor said in a news release. "It is important to do our homework to develop the most effective, efficient and environmentally sound plan that will produce the highest results in diverting refuse from the landfill."
Marshall, who is opposed to charging a $10 trash pickup fee, said she is concerned that so far the administration has not scheduled a meeting in Kailua, which is in her district.
"I'm obviously concerned about the fact that there's nothing in Kailua if that's still in fact on their agenda as being one of the starting places," Marshall said. "I am extremely disappointed that ... at the (Council's) public works (committee) meeting they were unable to tell us when those meetings were and this afternoon they've put out a press release."
City spokesman Bill Brennan said meetings will take place around the island.
"I think we're looking at it more regionally for the purpose of the meetings. We would hope that the folks in Kailua would turn out at the Windward Community College meeting."
At the meetings, the city will present studies conducted by Seattle-based consultant R.W. Beck on Oahu's refuse system. The studies include a look at the island's composition of waste, a cost-benefit analysis of various curbside recycling options and the comparative benefits of recycling vs. waste-to-energy.
"I will assume, giving the administration the benefit of the doubt, that they will transmit that data immediately to the Council so that we will have time to digest it before the first meeting on April 9," Marshall said.