Kokua Line
Kokua Line
City offers details
on planned changes
to trash collectionMayor Jeremy Harris' plan to cut trash pickup to once a week and to prod people into recycling has generated a truckload of questions both to Kokua Line and the city administration.
A public information campaign that will involve printed material distributed door-to-door and at various city outlets, as well as newspaper ads, will be launched before the new system is instituted.
The targeted start is in July, but that depends on City Council approval of the proposed $8-a-month charge to residents who want a second garbage pickup each week, and agreement to the changes by the United Public Workers, the union representing refuse employees.
In the meantime, here are answers to basic questions, provided by Carol Costa, director of the Department of Customer Services, and city recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones:
Who will be affected?
Eventually, all the 160,000 Oahu households that have trash picked up by the city. Those that have automated pickup -- about 135,000 of them -- will be converted to the new system immediately.
Another 25,000 households are served by manually operated trucks because they live along narrow streets that can't accommodate the larger automated trucks. However, as quickly as possible, probably "in the next six months or more," the plan is to convert them to "semi-automatic pickup." The manually operated, rear-loading trucks will be retrofitted with "flippers." The carts will be rolled over to the back of the truck, attached to the flipper, then flipped over.
These households will also be given the 96-gallon trash bins needed for automated pickup.
How can the same trucks be used for trash, recycling and green waste?
To avoid contamination problems, the trucks will be routed so they won't collect garbage one day then recyclables the next.
Refuse and green waste will be fully compacted as they are collected. Recyclables won't be compacted; instead, they will be moved to the back of the truck and stored as they are collected.
What will the schedule be?
Trash will be picked up once a week. Recycling pickup and green waste pickup will take place the day after trash pickup, alternating weeks, for a total of twice a month each.
If you don't have anything to recycle on recycling day, you cannot use that day to toss out more trash or to get rid of green waste. The same holds for green waste day.
What happens to people who don't comply?
If you accidentally toss a recyclable item into the trash, that won't be a problem. But the city will do spot checks to make sure people aren't systematically throwing recyclables in with the trash. If that happens, a resident's trash will not be picked up until the next trash pickup day and then, only if the recyclables are removed.
What happens if I want a second trash pickup each week?
You will be charged $8 a month for the second pickup and will receive a sticker to put on your trash container.
In some cases, the second pickup day may coincide with your current schedule. If your trash is now picked up on a Monday/Thursday schedule, for example, that may continue. However, that's not a sure thing. Details will have to be worked out with the UPW.
How will I be billed for this and where will the money go?
Initially, you will be able to purchase four-month or annual stickers by mail. After that, the plan is to have satellite city halls and outlets, such as 7-Eleven, which already sell bus passes, sell the stickers. The money will go into a solid waste fund to offset the cost of the city's solid waste operations.
Refuse officials believe as many as half the households now serviced by automated refuse trucks will opt to pay for the second pickup.
What if I want a second trash container?
You will be able to buy a second container for $70. The second container will be green -- to differentiate it from the gray ones now in use -- and can be used for recyclables or green waste only.
I have two containers now that I use for trash. Can I still use both of them?
You can put both containers out on your designated trash pickup day. Details are being worked out as to how to handle requests by households that have two trash containers to have a second trash pickup day each week.
(The city has allowed some households, mainly the larger ones, to have a second container. However, officials individually review each request for a second container, monitoring trash output.)
What should be recycled and do we have to separate and/or clean them?
Recycle newspapers (including glossy ads and colored pages), glass and plastics. You don't have to separate them in the container. However, the city asks that newspapers be bundled or put into plastic bags and secured. Newspapers that have been used to wrap fish, line bird cages, etc., can be tossed into the regular trash.
It would be preferable if the containers are cleaned before being put out for recycling.
What about canned-good cans?
Toss metal cans and soda cans out with the regular trash. HPOWER, the city's garbage-to-energy plant, is equipped to separate the recyclable containers, which are then sold to a recycling company.
What about rats, flies and maggots that may result from garbage sitting out for a week or sitting in overflowing containers?
The city says people have to begin paying more attention to how they dispose of food, including wrapping perishables tightly, and to take more responsibility for bagging and storing trash until pickup.
If the lid on the trash container is kept closed, officials say there should be no problem. The idea also is that if the recyclables are separated, containers normally shouldn't overflow and there will still be two-day-a-week pickup.
How much will this program cost and how much will it save the city in the long-run?
It will cost $1.5 million to set up the program. There is no overall figure as to long-run savings, but the goal is to reduce reliance on landfills and HPOWER.
What will the city do with the recyclables?
Local recycling companies will be asked to bid for the right to sort and sell the collected materials.
What will happen to the community recycling bins?
This is a mandatory recycling program only in the fact that you will not be allowed to throw recyclables into your regular trash. You are free to take them elsewhere. Some decrease in donations to the community recycling bins is expected, but city officials say they expect people will continue to support the schools through recycling.
Can the city really get this plan going this summer?
The key factor is getting City Council to approve Bill 17, regarding the $8-a-month fee for an extra trash pickup day. If that happens soon, the administration believes it can get everything into place by July 1.
I still have questions. Who can I call?
Call the city's Recycling Office at 692-5410 or check the Web site www.opala.org.
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Useful phone numbers
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com