ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM
State wildlife biologist Joey Mello stood yesterday amid some trash that members of Pig Hunters of Hawaii pulled out of the Waiakea forest south of Hilo on Sunday. Mello had taken about a ton of trash to the county dump, with more work still to do.
Hunters clear
Waiakea forest trashIllegal rural dumping
continues despite the availability
of county rubbish stations
HILO >> A Big Island hunting club, Pig Hunters of Hawaii, spent Sunday cleaning up about two tons of trash in the Waiakea forest south of Hilo.
The hunters pulled out items that included old tires and rusty refrigerators, said state wildlife biologist Joey Mello, who provided a state truck to haul the stuff away.
A check yesterday of dirt roads leading off Stainback Highway through the forest revealed still more trash the hunters could not remove, from old cars to a chest of drawers.
Pig Hunters president Tommy Medeiros, his father Antone, 82, and Tommy's two sons and four grandsons were among the 37 club members doing the cleanup as they have for the last 10 years.
"I hate it," Medeiros said. People who dump trash should have more respect, more pride, he said.
"That is disgusting," said Medeiros' wife, Marlene. "You know we have to take care of the aina. We're doing this so our children and grandchildren will not have to hunt somewhere filled with rubbish," she said.
Mello said some people are just too lazy to go to county transfer stations or the Hilo landfill.
Some complain that the transfer stations, where people can throw trash in a compactor, are closed at night, he said.
But Barbara Bell, head of the county Department of Environmental Management, said only some stations close after dark.
"The Pahoa transfer station is open 24 hours per day and there's plenty of illegal dumping all around there," she said.
Another complaint is that old tires have to be taken to facilities that charge $2.50 to receive them, Mello said.
Bell said the county is bound by a regulation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that requires tires to be cut in quarters before the county can accept them.
Several hunters on Sunday saw a junked car being towed up Stainback, deep into the forest, sure to be junked.
"You can tow it to the dump and they won't charge you anything," said Bill Medeiros, not related to Tommy and Marlene.
Bell confirmed that the landfill still accepts junked cars.
A hunter who gave his name simply as Fred said, "This is our hunting area. We no like mess it up."
