Military projects add to landfills

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The military is considering replacing or renovating more than 16,000 homes on O'ahu over the next 15 years, potentially generating millions of tons of wood, drywall, cement and other construction waste.

But demolition and waste experts on the island say the situation can be handled sufficiently with existing facilities.

The Army is planning to replace or renovate 8,000 units on six of its installations, as well as one belonging to the Coast Guard, starting in November 2004. The Navy and Marine Corps are looking at replacing or renovating about 7,400 homes beginning in July 2004. And the Air Force plans to replace or renovate 1,356 houses beginning in January.

That's in addition to housing renovations that are under way, including new homes at Radford Terrace near the airport.

Those numbers also don't include the possibility that a Stryker brigade could be stationed in the Islands or the chance that a carrier group and an accompanying air wing could end up here. Those additions would generate even more construction for the thousands of additional military members who would be stationed here.

The city does not accept construction or demolition waste at its Waimanalo Landfill near Kahe Point, according to city Environmental Services Director Frank Doyle. That decision was made in an effort to preserve the landfill for municipal solid waste.

Instead, construction or demolition waste that is not recycled is taken to the only legally operating private landfill on the island designed specifically to handle such waste — the PVT Land Co. in Nanakuli.

Albert Shigemura, PVT president, said his company's landfill has the capacity to take construction and demolition waste for at least another 20 years and that he does not expect the large-scale military renovation projects to affect that timeline.

Shigemura said the demolition of a home does not generate as much waste as some may think. "You'd be surprised, when you knock down a house there's not much left," he said. "You think your home is so big but a lot of it is just air space. The gyp board and the plywood and everything else flattens into a pretty small bundle."

The traditional home in Hawai'i is made of single-wall construction and asphalt tile roofs, he said. "There's not too much to building a house here, the old homes anyway."

Doyle said he isn't worried, either. "Looking at the acreage that he has down there and the possibility of recycling some of that material, it's not going to really be something that they can't handle," he said. "I think that they can easily take care of it."

Brian Tajiri, president of demolition contractor Tajiri Lumber, said that roughly 40 percent of house demolition waste is lumber or other materials that go into the landfill.

Most of the remaining materials, the bulk of which is cement that is crushed, can be recycled, he said. The average house in Hawai'i, he said, can be broken down into roughly 80 tons to 100 tons of landfill material and between 180 tons and 200 tons of concrete and other recyclables.

Under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative in place since 1996, each of the branches selects a single private developer to build, manage and maintain homes in entire regions for 50 years. That approach theoretically delivers quality homes faster. While the primary contractors are expected to be from the Mainland, many of the subcontractors are expected to be Hawai'i companies.

Tajiri noted that he is one of about a dozen demolition contractors who recycles. He figures that will help as he competes for the military work.

Gail Suzuki-Jones, energy analyst for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said an executive order by former President George H. W. Bush mandates that all federal agencies recycle waste material. That clearly would apply to their contractors, Suzuki-Jones said.

Suzanne Jones, the city's recycling coordinator, said the military generally has been conscientious about recycling and has directives about disposal. "I have every expectation the military is going to handle the waste responsibly," she said.

There is a large push from the city and state to urge contractors to recycle as much of their construction debris as possible.

Suzuki-Jones said as much as 35 percent of the state's waste comes from construction and demolition and that she has been working with contractors on non-traditional means of recycling reuseable construction materials.

For instance, she said, a non-profit group, Nanakuli Housing Corp., has opened a baseyard at Sand Island to receive reuseable construction and demolition waste that can then be re-distributed to different groups. Donations to the baseyard are tax deductible.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.