North Shore to get started
in curbside recycling project

The service will also return
to Mililani in November

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Curbside recycling will return to Mililani and expand to the North Shore in November, the city announced yesterday.

PHASING IN RECYCLING The phase-in schedule for curbside recycling: » November for Mililani, Wahiawa, Laie, Hauula, Kahuku, Kahaluu and Waialua. » December for Kailua, Kaneohe and Waimanalo. » March for parts of Honolulu, Kaimuki, Kalihi, Aina Haina, Niu Valley, Kahala, Manoa, Liliha, Nuuanu, Palolo and Punchbowl. » April for Pearl City, Waipahu, Kapolei, Makakilo, Pacific Palisades, Waianae, Nanakuli and Makaha. » May for Pearl City, Waipahu, Ewa Beach, Waipio, Aiea, Waikele, Halawa and Newtown. » June for the rest of Honolulu, Kaimuki, Kalihi, Hawaii Kai, Diamond Head, Kapahulu, Salt Lake and Moanalua.

The Windward Coast will get the new service in December, with other areas of the island added in four more phases from March to June next year.

However, the city has not reached a contract agreement with the United Public Workers bargaining Unit 1, which represents refuse workers.

A ruling by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board in August forced the city to stop curbside recycling in its 10,000-home Mililani pilot project.

If an agreement is not reached with the union, the city can provide the recycling service by contracting private workers, city Environmental Services Director Frank Doyle said yesterday.

Bids for a private contractor to collect recyclables are to be opened Oct. 6, Doyle told the City Council's Public Works Committee yesterday.

The city learned from the Mililani project that separate carts should be used for regular garbage and recyclables, said Suzanne Jones, the city's recycling coordinator.

The city's revised plan for curbside recycling calls for the 140,000 single-family homes that have automated trash pickup to get a blue recycling container in addition to their regular gray trash container.

Mixed recyclables -- newspaper, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles -- would be collected every other week, alternating with green waste pickup. The recycling pickups would be in addition to regular, twice-weekly garbage pickup, with no additional charge on property tax bills, Jones said.

The city now plans to keep picking up yard waste in bundles or plastic bags instead of providing a third, green cart for it, Jones added.

The City Council allotted $2.5 million in this year's budget to pay for the first six months of curbside recycling. City consultants estimated the cost of the program at $5 million a year.

The program will be mandatory, Doyle said yesterday.