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Gathering Place
Suzanne Jones |
Comprehensive recycling
is within Oahu’s reachA landfill must be sited somewhere on Oahu before the year's end and the public, quite understandably, is demanding more recycling and technology to reduce our reliance on landfills altogether. Aggressive recycling plans are ready to go, but they seem to be stalling. Islandwide curbside recycling, beverage container deposits, sewage sludge recycling -- together these efforts could decrease waste by more than 100,000 tons.
Mayor Harris wants to roll out curbside recycling islandwide this year. The Mililani pilot project provided valuable information for shaping the islandwide system. Council members seem supportive, but there's a possibility we could lose this program in the budget battles.
Beverage container deposits are set to begin Jan. 1, 2005, by law passed in 2002. But retailers and the beverage industry, which have opposed this measure from the beginning, are pressuring the Legislature for a delay (they're not ready) with hopes of a repeal. Their goal is to erode public support and present the program as ineffectual and confusing. Please don't be taken in as they continue to downplay the benefits and overplay the costs for a system that has been successful in 10 other states for more than 20 years (30 years in Oregon), producing the highest recycling rates as well as dramatic reductions in litter. Public support remains at more than 70 percent in these states. The cost of beverages has not increased and the fuss about how to handle redemption, storage and transport to the recyclers died long ago as the systems settled into place. A recent poll shows that 84 percent of New Yorkers support their current deposit system and more than 70 percent want it expanded to other types of beverage containers.
Most of us don't give much thought to sewage sludge or aren't quite sure what it is. It's the processed solids from our wastewater treatment plants. Our largest facility, on Sand Island, produces more than 20,000 tons of sludge per year, which is trucked to the landfill for disposal. A new component to the plant, to be built and operated by Synagro, will dehydrate the sludge to produce fertilizer pellets, using the safest and best technology available in the country. Similar products are already imported and sold in stores locally under the brand name Milorganite ("Mil" for Milwaukee sewage sludge). I'm sure our stuff will produce a superior product, so what's slowing down the project? Some City Council and community members have expressed fears about odor and product safety. Despite assurances from the Environmental Protection Agency and the scientific community and successful use around the country, the project continues to drag.
We've done the studies and the pilots and debated the issues ad nauseum. To reduce waste and reduce landfilling, we must move forward aggressively with comprehensive recycling efforts. There isn't one recycling program to save the day; it takes many different efforts capturing the recyclable portions of our waste wherever we generate it -- house, condo, work, school, shopping center, beach. It's curbside recycling, container deposits, sewage sludge recycling, drop-off facilities, office building programs, hotel/restaurant recycling, used motor oil recycling, tire recycling, auto battery recycling, cooking oil recycling, computer recycling, green waste recycling, concrete recycling, asphalt recycling and appliance recycling and if we're not pushing all these efforts, we're just throwing it all away in the landfill ... your backyard.
Suzanne Jones is the recycling coordinator for the City & County of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services.