Firm fined for glass disposal

Rolloffs Hawaii Inc. used the waste as fill material on unapproved land

Rolloffs Hawaii Inc. paid the state a $1,199 fine for using between six and nine tons of deposit beverage container glass it collected from its certified redemption centers as fill material in unapproved land.

The state Department of Health's Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch issued the violation and assessed the penalty.

The land, a vacant lot on Ahilama Road in Kahaluu, is not an approved recycling destination, the state said. And Rolloffs did not identify it in its RRR Recycling Services Hawaii redemption center certification application as an end-use destination for deposit beverage containers, according to state officials.

Rolloffs also did not have required permits from the Army Corps of Engineers to grade or fill the property, which the Corps has deemed a wetland. The Corps is taking separate action.

Glass gravel used as landfill, backfill and landscaping are the only forms of glass recycling in the state, said Jennifer Tosaki of the Health Department's Solid Waste Management Office. "There is no re-manufacturing here," she said.

Only glass that is shipped to the mainland is remade into other glass products, Tosaki said.

The Health Department's Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch also fined Papaya's Natural Foods and Cafe on Kauai $1,319 and Healthy's Down to Earth Natural Foods stores on Maui and Oahu $1,359 for selling deposit beverage containers that did not have the required "HI-5" refund value sticker or label on them last year.

Papaya's also failed to meet its compliance schedule and Down to Earth labeled nondeposit beverage products such as honey, soaps and shampoos, the state said.