Fed grant helps
Big Isle recycling

Funds will be used to establish
a pilot program in Keaau to
cut down on trash

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By Rod Thompson
rhompson@starbulletin.com

KEAAU, Hawaii >> A federal grant of $400,000 is in the pipeline to boost recycling on the Big Island, grant administrator Hawaii Island Economic Development Board announced.

The money will create a recycling pilot program at the present Keaau Transfer Station south of Hilo beginning this summer.

The Keaau site already has bins for aluminum cans, glass bottles and newspapers. The other trash is hauled to the Hilo landfill, which must be closed in two years.

Ideally, everything would be recycled at Keaau so nothing goes to Hilo, said Barbara Bell, co-chairwoman of the volunteer project committee.

A practical goal would be to add plastic to the materials recycled, she said.

That means asking the public to separate No. 2 "milk bottle plastic" from other types, which may still be dumped.

Aloha Plastic Recycling on Maui already makes products such as picnic tables and plastic "lumber."

The project hopes to answer questions such as whether Keaau will generate enough plastic to make shipments to Maui worthwhile.

Will the people around Keaau, where there is no home pickup of trash, separate their trash?

People will have to have three or more trash barrels per home, said Jiro Sumada, co-chairman of the project. No one knows how many will cooperate.

But it's a "cultural, societal change" that has to be made to protect the environment from trash, he said.

"We want to prove to all the naysayers that recycling can work on the Big Island," he said.

Hawaii County now pays recyclers $40 per ton to ship recyclables off the island, said county Environmental Management Department head Galen Kuba.

Kuba says he will not pay any money to recyclers at Keaau. "Their project has to account for its own costs," he said.

And the special $400,000 congressional grant has limitations: The project cannot create permanent facilities.

Tents to keep people and trash out of the rain, yes; buildings, no. Gravel roads, yes; paved roads, no.

Some are criticizing the project because they think they will not get a share of the $400,000 pie.

The grant calls for choosing a recycling operator based on a normal "request for proposals" procedure.