GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM The dumping of appliances and cars, like the ones seen yesterday on a back road in Waikoo, is expected to increase on Maui as residents lose the island's only scrap-metal processor.

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State order causes
trash crisis on Maui

Old appliances pile up as the sole
processor falls out of compliance

WAILUKU » Retirees Ben and Elsie Furtado are upset that they will have to hang on to their old oven once they buy a new one, because they have no place to dump the appliance on Maui.

"We'll have to keep it until the county comes up with a solution," Elsie Furtado said.

Across the Valley Isle, residents who buy new appliances are dealing with the same problem, since the island's sole scrap-metal processor has been ordered by state health officials to stop accepting old appliances.

Health officials said in September that the company could not process any more abandoned vehicles as scrap metal until it brought its facilities into compliance with solid-waste rules. Maui Scrap Metal Co. ceased accepting any more appliances Friday because it had not upgraded the facilities.

Hamai Appliance Inc. President Clyde Hamai said his business and other stores on the Valley Isle cannot dispose of old appliances on behalf of their customers.

"What I'm afraid of is, you're going to see a lot more littering," Hamai said. "It's going to get way, way worse. The county should have planned a little better."

Large landowners such as Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. say they expect more dumping on their lands.

"Usually it becomes our problem, and the more difficult one is refrigerators and air conditioners," Hawaiian Commercial General Manager Stephen Holaday said.

Holaday said the company has to contend not only with removing and storing the appliances on its land, but also with disposing of the coolant they contain in accordance with health regulations.

He said the plantation, with about 37,000 acres, has been working to close more roads to reduce the dumping of appliances and cars, and is asking employees to be more vigilant.

But more appliances are showing up on Hawaiian Commercial property along rural back roads, including the Waikoo area in Central Maui, said Brian Nobriga, whose family operates a nearby cattle feed lot.

"Before, they used to dump one or two ... but now they all over the place," Nobriga said.

County Public Works Deputy Director Michael Miyamoto said the county has been working with a private contractor that wants to process and hold appliances and abandoned vehicles for shipment to Honolulu.

Miyamoto said Kitagawa's Towing is seeking a special management area permit for its property on Hobron Avenue near Kahului Harbor. He wants to establish a storage area for items to be shipped and scrapped.

"We're trying to get this ... as fast as we can," he said.