Junkyard fees up 20 percent in last four years
By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau
KAPOLEI — City figures show that the fee to dump rubbish at its Waimanalo Gulch Landfill has jumped more than 20 percent since 1997, a factor cited by Hawai'i Metal Recycling's Jim Banigan in a dispute that he says could force him to stop accepting most cars.
Banigan said he pays the city for the thousands of cars it brings every year to his Campbell Industrial Park facility and then has to pay the city again to accept the non-recyclable materials from those cars at the landfill.
"The market (for scrap metal) hasn't gotten any better, and tip fees, although stabilized for about two years, are anticipated to go up," Banigan said.
The fee for commercial users to dump trash at the city's landfill, called the "tipping" fee, has been frozen for two years and recyclers pay a discounted rate, but Banigan said even with the discount those fees total $500,00 to $600,000 a year for HMR, or about 37 percent of its annual operating costs.
HMR, the only automobile shredding company in the state, processed about 25,000 cars last year. With about 30 percent of the cars recycled at HMR delivered to the facility by city contractors, and HMR paying between $17 and $20 a ton for old cars and appliances, the company paid the city about $138,750 for junked cars in 2000. Combined with the tipping fees Banigan said he paid, HMR paid the city between $638,750 and $738,750 last year.
Banigan wants the city to reduce or eliminate the tipping fee for him to continue his service.
Hawai'i Metal Recycling sent a letter to its customers last month saying as of Sept. 1 it would no longer accept cars or appliances that had not already been stripped of nonmetal materials. Without his service, abandoned cars could quickly clutter O'ahu's roads and fill junk yards as they did in the 1980s, according to those familiar with the situation.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the administration is looking into the situation, though no meetings are set with HMR. Costa said tipping fees are set by the City Council and any change in fees would require their approval.
"We are looking at everything from his operating costs, what his numbers are, to the tipping fees, which the council sets," Costa said. "We have no authority here in the Harris administration to say, 'OK, we can adjust or add or subtract.' We don't have that jurisdiction."
Costa said the city has been a strong supporter of recycling efforts and realizes the need to keep HMR in business.
Tipping fees were set at $60 a ton in 1997 and rose to $65.75 in 1998 and again to $72.25 in 1999, but with taxes and other charges the now totals about $82 per ton. Qualified recycling companies pay 50 percent of the basic rate, or about $36 a ton. Figures on the discounted rate from years past were unavailable.
City Councilwoman Rene Mansho helped form a group of recyclers and trash haulers that successfully negotiated a two-year freeze on the fees in 1999, Banigan said, but fees could go up again next year.
Banigan said because he is recycling more cars than ever, the tipping fees have increased as a percentage of his operating costs.
"Because we are on a record pace, I've got more waste being generated," Banigan said. "We have also driven our operating costs down by upgrading some of our equipment, therefore the percentage cost of the waste gets pushed up. It was about 25 percent last year."
