AG’s office
to look at waste
firm mergerHonolulu Disposal Service
is taking over the assets
of Horizon Waste
The state Attorney General's Office plans to look into the takeover of a large Oahu disposal company, which could potentially give its competitor control of nearly 80 percent of the island's commercial waste disposal business.
Honolulu Disposal Service Inc., headed by Clyde Kaneshiro, is taking over trucks and other assets of Horizon Waste Services of Hawaii Inc., which is planning to shut down by June 24. Horizon Waste controls about 51 percent of commercial disposal contracts on Oahu, while Honolulu Disposal has about 28 percent, according to the city refuse division.
The next closest competitor, Rolloffs Hawaii Inc., controls 11 percent of contracts, while Si-nor Inc. has less than 6 percent. A group of other companies have a much smaller share.
On Oahu, the city hauls 42 percent of the trash, while commercial haulers make up 52 percent of the market, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.
A lack of information about the deal is drawing the eye of the Attorney General's Office.
"We'll definitely be looking at that," said Michael Meany, deputy attorney general.
Meany said he was unclear how the two companies are being combined.
The takeover was described as a "merger" in letters to employees of Horizon Waste and its sister company Maui Disposal Co., from Michael P. O'Brien, regional vice president of Horizon Waste. Last week, Maui Disposal and Horizon Waste were merged with Kaneshiro's companies, a letter said. Kaneshiro's Maui trash company Valley Isle Disposal Inc. is shutting down on June 24 and shifting its assets to Maui Disposal, a letter said.
Kaneshiro, who has an array of business interests in Hawaii, has not returned several calls seeking comment.
Horizon Waste, based in Kapolei, was formed when former executives of Houston waste management company Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. acquired BFI's Hawaii operations in 2000. The name of the Oahu operation was changed to Horizon Waste. The closure will displace 91 employees, though Horizon told its employees that Honolulu Disposal and a related company will accept applications for employment shortly.
BFI drew scrutiny itself in 1998 when it bought the hauling business of its biggest competitor in Hawaii, Waste Management Inc., and acquired a significant portion of the Oahu market.
Since then, Horizon Waste has kept its control of about half of private trash hauling contracts on Oahu.
In 1999, the federal government denied BFI's protest of a $10.8 million Navy contract awarded to Honolulu Disposal, despite past allegations of fraud against Honolulu Disposal.
An Oklahoma-based trash hauler said in a 1994 lawsuit that Honolulu Disposal overcharged the military $411,993 in a Hickam Air Force Base contract by padding collection figures. The company denied wrongdoing but paid $823,000 in a 1997 settlement.
Alii Refuse, a company related to Honolulu Disposal, pleaded guilty to federal anti-trust charges in 1991 and admitted conspiring with garbage-collection companies in the 1980s to pump up prices by not competing in parts of Oahu.