EDITORIAL
Casual dumping of debris cannot go on

Before we become too complacent about the beauty and purity of our Island home, it would be worthwhile to take a quick look at a preliminary report from a task force that has been assessing Hawai'i's waste management practices.

The findings, as reported by staff writer Eloise Aguiar, are nothing less than horrifying.

Tons of junked and rusting automobiles are stored around the Islands. Landfills, both legal and illegal, host mountains of discarded debris that no one wants.

Clearly, we are too ready to deal with our waste by simply storing it somewhere in the hope no one will notice.

Well, someone has noticed. The next step for the legislative task force, chaired by Sen. Melodie Aduja, will be to come up with solutions.

It won't be easy. We already know that space for landfill is in short supply and the job of creating new landfills poses huge political problems.

Recycling can help, but Hawai'i has been notoriously slow to adopt a full-scale recycling ethic.

Eventually, we may have to conclude that recycling will never "pay" for itself, but is worth the effort simply to keep our 'aina from being overrun.

Another idea aimed at stopping the casual discarding of trash is to impose an advance "disposal fee" at the time of sale. The fee would go into a fund that would help pay for proper disposal of items.

This makes some sense, but is in effect a tax.

Perhaps a version of the recently created "bottle bill" law could be considered. A surcharge could be imposed on certain troublesome items that would be returned when the item was properly and legally disposed.

This would have double benefits. It would act as an incentive against idle dumping of these items. And it would attract enterprising people who could make money by collecting discarded items and turning them in.

In an island state with limited land and limited options, we cannot afford to simply throw the debris of our lives away with no thought to what happens next.