CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
Young Laundry owner Michael Drace led a Girl Scout troop to a bin of hangers. Recycling hangers saves the company about $25,000 a year. Directly below, Hawaiian Cracked Glass in Hilo transforms used glass into decorative lawn sculptures, such as this elephant. Other ornaments include frogs, ipu and turtles. Call 808-959-0361 on the Big Island for information.
The problems of recycling have concerned me since the sixth grade when I was a secretary on the student council. Many other items prime for recycling
By Christina Chun
cchun@starbulletin.comOur adviser fostered our recycling awareness. Each council member was issued a T-shirt imprinted with the chasing-arrows logo signifying the chain of use and recycling. We held an aluminum and newspaper drive so that all the other kids' parents could bring in their recyclables and make the school some money.
I thought our event was the height of civic duty then, and the impression's lasted.
When City and County Recycling Coordinator Suzanne Jones publicized this year's fourth annual Tour de Trash, several hundred people jumped at the chance to look at trash.
It may not be as exciting or pretty as a rock show or art show, but the thought of visiting Oahu-based hubs of recycling and trash management activity sounded like an adventure. Establishments like Young Laundry & Dry Cleaning, the Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Honolulu Zoo beckoned. The latter treats and packages garden and wastes as "Honolulu Zoo Poo" providing lawn nutrients sure to thrill gardeners across the state. Altogether, 33 tour sites promised even more innovative ideas.
The popular tour left a long waiting list behind. Jones' office plans to offer supplemental half-day mini-tours starting January.
AT 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, a lucky 60 of us met at the Aloha Tower Marketplace Navatek pavilion. Curiosity led me to sign up for the tour, but why was everyone else there?
Waimanalo Gulch was retiree Arlene Names' reason for attending. "They're going to build it up another 30 feet, and this bothers me. I want to see why we have to do that, why we don't recycle some of this stuff instead of dumping it."
Traveler and former librarian Kam Flower said: "Personal interest, mainly. I've lived here for 12 years, but I come from a place -- state of Maine -- where recycling is done well."
CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
Suzy Say guided Tour de Trash participants past a mountain of cardboard at Honolulu Recovery Systems on Wednesday. The company sorts and processes trash collected through city recycling bins.
Others had business interests. Nalani Blane of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii attended in hope of learning more about use of sustainable and energy-efficient materials for the BIA's Hawaii BuiltGreen Project.
Those who scored a seat on one of the six tours saw how Honolulu handles its waste products -- a vast underworld network never discussed in polite company.
The tour began with a coalition of businesses called the Partnership for the Environment, formed in 1992. The group's focus was to improve the way businesses, industry and the government handle refuse, rather than how private individuals might help.
Still, there were bites of information applicable to those with personal interest in reducing, reusing and recycling.
WE GENERALLY know about the front end of the reusable trash system: lugging cans to recycling centers from home and calling the refuse center when we have bulky items like trees or refrigerators to junk.
We don't often think about the back end of refuse management, however. Friday was America Recycles Day, and Jones says the city's goal is to focus on the importance of buying recycled products. Without demand, any amount of recycling is useless.
Tour de Trash took us through some obscure sites that sell their products directly and indirectly to consumers. HPOWER sells Hawaiian Electric electricity for about 40,000 homes. Island Recycling will sell you a refurbished wooden pallet for $6. Hawaiian Earth Products produces "Menehune Magic" compost and mulch made from the city's green waste.
My group seemed to enjoy Pacific Biodiesel the most, judging from the number of questions everyone had. The company converts cooking oil into fuel by removing glycerine and other elements from it. What's left will power diesel engines.
Given the fuel's origins, one woman asked if the fuel is edible.
"It's not toxic, so you could eat it," Pacific Biodiesel president Bob King said with a laugh. "I saw this guy in Hong Kong drink a glass of it, but I said, 'Oh, man, I don't want to be around him later on that night!' Your body really doesn't recognize it as food anymore. It's been modified."
Unheated biodiesel smells like canola oil; when it's burned, it smells like french fries. There's a 5 percent to 10 percent power drop with pure biodiesel fuel, but so far, none of the company's clients have complained. Tour boats seem to like it, since burning it leaves little residue to clean and no obnoxious odor for sensitive guests.
The fuel sells for $2.59 per gallon on Oahu. If you're on Maui, it costs $2.24 per gallon. Maui County helps out with the road tax.
CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
Piles of discarded tires, headed for recycling, greeted the tour group at Unitek Tires.
King says the fuel isn't for everyone, but it's easily blendable. A blend might contain a minimum of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent diesel.
ON TOUR DE TRASH, we also found the reason behind Waimanalo Gulch's bloated state. According to statistics from the city, the amount of trash produced in the state is equivalent to one ton per person annually. All the residential trash picked up by the city goes to HPOWER, to be turned into electrical energy.
Problem is, says Energy Recovery Administrator Colin Jones, HPOWER's 561,000-ton capacity is exceeded by the overall amount of trash produced: 900,000 tons annually. The excess goes into the landfill.
HPOWER is currently running over capacity at 610,000 tons. The plant processes the refuse, pulling out ferrous (containing iron) and non-ferrous metals. Plastics are usually made from petroleum, which burns longer and hotter than other materials.
While this makes me feel somewhat more at ease about tossing an occasional soda can or a plastic bottle into the trash can rather than the recycle bin, remember that there is only one HPOWER plant and only so much trash that can be burned.
Luckily, many schools have Recycle Hawaii bins on site for glass, plastics, aluminum cans, cardboard and paper. The community is welcome to bring their items to donate. Follow the posted rules, or the school can lose the money you intended for them. They'll receive a monthly check in return for the materials.
My old elementary school adviser would have been ecstatic.
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Here are some recycling tips from Peggy Northrup of Organic Style magazine, which promotes the art of living in balance. Many other items
prime for recyclingStar-Bulletin
Bottles and cans are just the beginning in terms of possibilities for recycling, Northrup says. Many other items are suited to a second life once you're done with them.
What's more, your donations of basic household goods may be tax-deductible, so this is the time to make a clean sweep of your household:
Appliances: If the appliance is in good working order, call local soup kitchens or shelters to see if they can use it.
Greeting cards: Send to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, a home and recreation center for abused, neglected and disadvantaged children. Volunteers take the fronts from used cards and attach them to new backs to make recycled cards for sale. Contact: St. Jude's Ranch, www.stjudesranch.org.
Eyeglasses: Lions Club and LensCrafters accept used eyeglasses to donate to underprivileged people in the United States and abroad. Contact: Lions Club International, 800-747-4448, or a LensCrafters store.
Business attire: Women's business suits or clothing appropriate for job interviews may be donated to Dress for Success, an international organization that provides outfits to homeless and jobless women. Contact: www.dressforsuccess.com. In Hawaii, the YWCA of Oahu is the affiliated group, at 1040 Richards St. Call 538-7061.
Formal wear: The Glass Slipper Project collects formal wear for girls who can't afford prom dresses. The organization has boutiques in the Midwest and East Coast. Contact: www.glassslipperproject.org.
Cell phones: Cell phones contain toxins that can contaminate water supplies. Call to Protect, a joint initiative of the wireless industry and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, collects cell phones, fixes them, programs them with emergency numbers and links to local shelters, then donates them to women at risk for abuse. Contact: www.wirelessfoundation.org.
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