Auditor finds
By Rod Thompson
fault with Big Isle
glass recycling
Star-BulletinHILO -- Much of the glass that Hawaii County pays to have recycled becomes stockpiled and not reused, a violation of the county's recycling program, a report by county legislative auditor Constance Kiriu says.
Since accounting procedures are lax and the program is not working as intended, it is even possible that a glass processor could claim reimbursement for glass for which it has already been paid, the report says.
The Public Works Committee of the County Council planned to discuss the report today.
The report identifies three companies involved in glass recycling, and says there are problems with all.
Club Shoyu Brewery reuses whole bottles and Environmental Recycling Hawaii crushes bottles and ships crushed glass to the mainland, the report says. Neither uses the required certified scales to determine the weight of glass involved, it says.
The major criticism falls on Recycling Systems Hawaii, which crushes bottles, but then stockpiles much of the glass. That violates the requirement of the program that the crushed glass be sold to a "market," either on or off the island.
During fiscal year 1997-98, Recycling Systems received about 2.6 million pounds of glass at five pickup locations, but failed to recycle about 1.5 million pounds, the report says.
The company received $117,960 for the unrecycled glass, the report says. The money comes from a 1.5-cent fee the state charges every glass container that comes to Hawaii.
By comparison, Environmental Recycling received a much smaller amount, 191,460 pounds, at two locations, but recycled all of it, the report says.
A statement by Recycling Systems owner Illinois "Ululani" Rosario said some of the company's glass is sold to a company called Hawaiian Cracked Glass, which uses it to make decorative art pieces.
Michael Allen, owner of Environmental Recycling, said Rosario also owns Hawaiian Cracked Glass. "They're selling the glass to themselves, which is wrong," he said.
Rosario's statement said, "It is an ongoing challenge to explore and create new ways to use glass on the Big Island."
The report also criticizes Hawaii County for failing to use crushed glass as "glassphalt" in paving roads. The county was supposed to pave one mile of demonstration roadway using 10 percent crushed glass in asphalt, but failed to do so, the report says.
Rosario said, "We are very excited about working on a project where glass aggregate will be used in the roads."
