City expands
bulky collections

The mayor hopes regular
pick-ups will help reduce illegal
dumping around Oahu

Regular once-a-month city collection of old appliances, furniture and other bulky items will take place outside urban Honolulu beginning March 1, Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced yesterday.

Currently, residents living between Hawaii Kai and Aliamanu have regularly scheduled collection of large, bulky goods, while other residents have to call for the next available pickup date in their neighborhood.

Now, residents living along the Waianae Coast between Honokai Hale and Makua will be able to get the same service as urban Honolulu. The city has plans to phase in other areas around the island.

Environmental watchdog Carroll Cox praised Hannemann and the United Public Workers union for arriving at an agreement to expand the regular collection route.

"This move is a very smart move, and it's one that's welcomed," said Cox, president of EnviroWatch.

Having the program begin along the Waianae Coast should give a boost to that community, where residents put their bulky trash out for the city to collect only to have it sit for months without being picked up, Cox said. "They care. It's just that (when) they deposit their trash on the roadside, they just don't get the service."

Environmental Services Director Eric Takamura said the initial phase of the pickup will not require additional manpower, but subsequent phases will.

Hannemann said he believes having this regular service will go far to help curb illegal dumping. "People get frustrated. They don't want to wait around for this to happen, and therefore they feel (if) the city is not going to pick it up, I'll just dump it by the wayside ... let it be someone else's problem."

Throughout his campaign for mayor last year, Hannemann would tell the story of his and his wife's frustration as their old water heater sat in front of his Aiea home for weeks without being picked up by the city. "When I called ... I had to wait something like four to six weeks before they actually came to pick it up. And I was told I was lucky to get it done in such a short time."

Hannemann promised during the campaign to fix the problem as soon as he became mayor.

UPW State Director Dayton Nakanelua, seated next to Hannemann yesterday, said refuse workers had concerns over job security, seniority and work schedules in both the bulky item and pending curbside recycling issue.

"I think we've broken a bottleneck with this first phase of the bulky item collection being addressed on the Leeward Coast," Nakanelua said.

Hannemann said that working out an agreement on bulky items is a "precursor" to rolling out islandwide curbside recycling, although both sides are still negotiating the details.

"I'm willing to settle right now for half a malasada rather than the whole one," Hannemann said. "I'm very optimistic that (curbside recycling) will happen, given how we've been able to roll out this (bulky item) announcement."