Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Now that my section of Pauoa Stream was cleared of bushes and rubbish through the effort of city workers, to whom do I complain about irresponsible neighbors who insist on dumping rubbish into the stream? Health Dept. staff can
talk to litterers for youCall the state Department of Health's Clean Water Branch, 586-4309. Staff will go out and talk to your neighbors, said spokesman Patrick Johnston.
A reader sent us some samples of starch "loose fill," following the item ("Kokua Line," Feb. 19) about how to dispose of "water soluble packing foam." An official with the city Department of Environmental Services said the best way, without knowing exactly what the product was made of, is to get rid of it as solid waste. Packing foam update
But Virginia Lyle, environmental affairs manager for F.P. International in Redwood City, Calif., said the starch "peanuts" her company produces -- similar if not identical to other manufacturers' starch products -- are safe to wash down with water.
The packing peanuts are made with denatured cornstarch, which means the taste is removed to discourage rodents from eating them.
"It's perfectly safe if someone ate it," Lyle said. "If you melt it in water, what you get is a little bit of a sticky residue. If you wash it down, it's gone."
The product has been around since the early 1990s, she said. There is no environmental hazard associated with it unless an "incredible" amount of the starch peanuts is dissolved, Lyle said. Its danger "is a nonissue."
F.P. International also makes "recycled content polystyrene loose fill," otherwise known as plastic peanuts, which actually is considered environmentally friendlier, Lyle said.
It was in response to customer demand, in the early 1990s, that the starch peanuts were made. Back then, "anything plastic was (considered) not as good as anything natural. People thought that starch was better," Lyle said.
However, many companies have since given up the starch peanuts because they're not as good a packing material and they can basically be used only once, she said.
Accompanying the samples of starch peanuts sent to "Kokua Line" was an informational sheet saying the product addresses the "3R" solution to the solid-waste problem: reduce, recycle, reuse. Also given was the "peanut hot line," 1-800-828-2214.
That was news to Karen Josse of the Plastic Loose Fill Council, who said the hot line is meant to give information about how to recycle or reuse plastic packaging peanuts. It's not really meant for the starch product, which may begin to shrink or become sticky after one use because it is biodegradable.
The "collection centers," which reuse the plastic peanuts, sometimes find the starch ones more of a nuisance, she said.
Josse also explained that the peanut hot line was set up after "criticism of the industry that it made a product that was going to last forever. The industry came out with solution for the consumer that is an environmentally respected solution, which is reuse."
To the driver of a brown American car who ignored all traffic rules and courtesies to overtake our car in the middle of Kipapa Bridge, heading northbound on Kamehameha Highway at 11:30 a.m. March 5. You just missed a southbound car! There are so many accidents there, resulting in many deaths. You might die on your next try, taking an innocent driver along with you. -- No name Auwe
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com
