Plan sees stabilized
future for isle refuse

Oahu recycling and a waste-to-energy
plant are key to 25-year projections

If the city increases recycling and expands its waste-to-energy plant, it can hold steady the amount of garbage going to a city landfill -- even as trash generation increases during the next 25 years, a consultant's report projects.

At a growth rate of 1 percent per year, Oahu would generate more than 2 million tons a year of garbage by 2029, according to a Solid Waste Integrated Management Plan given to City Council last week.

That would be 28 percent more garbage than the 1.6 million tons a year generated now, said the report developed by Pacific Waste Consulting Group of Sacramento, Calif., for the city's Department of Environmental Services.

Under the report's projection, the city could be putting about 405,000 tons of garbage a year into a landfill in 2029, less than the 408,000 tons a year put in Waimanalo Gulch now.

The amount put into a landfill could be reduced further if the city finds a cost-effective "alternative technology" to reduce waste. The city will seek bids next year on alternative technologies to handle 200,000 tons a year of waste, City Environmental Service Director Frank Doyle said.

The study Doyle presented yesterday to the Council's Public Works and Economic Development Committee also calls for the city to form a semiautonomous agency to oversee solid-waste and waste-water departments. Such an agency would be analogous to the Board of Water Supply, with an independent board of directors.

The study sets these goals for the city over the next five years:

» Construct and operate a third boiler at HPOWER.

» Open a new landfill with at least a 25-year life.

» Assist the state in implementing the bottle bill.

» Provide automated collection of green waste islandwide.

» Consider privatizing city garbage collection.

» Recycle more wood, metal and concrete construction materials.

» Seek environmental approval to use HPOWER ash in construction projects, instead of burying it in a landfill.

» Consider residential user fees for garbage pickup, to encourage residents to recycle and reduce the waste going to the landfill.

» Keep better track of the composition of its garbage, to enable it to target items for recycling.

Doyle said a missing section on funding would be added by Nov. 19.

State law requires all counties to have a solid-waste plan and sets a goal of recycling or diverting half of all garbage. Honolulu currently diverts or recycles about one-third, Doyle said.