Let's talk trash

• Recycling facts and figures
• Tips for recyclers

By Sara Lin
Advertiser Staff Writer

Carol Au of Kahala may be among O'ahu's more diligent recyclers. Even some of her son's toys are made from items she has saved from the trash. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser Recycling habits range from simple can-crushing to die-hard reincarnating

Beginner: Can the excuses. Take glass, aluminum and plastic containers down to a nearby recycling bin.

Advanced: Get to the core of recycling. Compost your eggshells, orange and banana peels for your yard.

Expert: One's trash is another's treasure. This bee was made with the help of an old stocking.

At first, just knowing what to do with the stuff was a problem: "We didn't know where (recycling bins) were, and when you ask the city people, they look at you like you had 10 heads," said Locascio, who lives in Waikiki.

Now he hauls his recyclables to the community recycling bin at Lincoln Elementary School every two or three weeks.

It's not a great system, but right now it's the only solution available for Locascio and other recyclers.

Each year, O'ahu generates 1.5 million tons of waste. About a third of it ended up in the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill last year. By 2005, the city hopes to reduce the amount of rubbish sent to the landfill by 50 percent, while upping the island's recycling production by 150,000 tons.

The question is no longer if Hawai'i needs to recycle more, but how.

Most rubbish goes to H-power, O'ahu's waste-to-energy plant. The resulting ash goes to the landfill, which approached full capacity in May. However, the state Department of Health approved its expansion and use through May 2008.

Pilot program

Meanwhile, a curbside-pickup solution for O'ahu is in the recycle bin, after Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' plan was rejected in May by City Council members. The council said it isn't saying no to a curbside program — members just demand a revamped version of the bill.

On Monday, Harris announced plans for a pilot curbside recycling program for 10,000 homes this summer — a modified version of his bill that won't need council approval.

Harris' first proposal eliminated one regular rubbish pickup a week and replaced it with alternating green-waste and curbside recycling collection; residents who wanted a second weekly trash pickup could pay $8 a month. City Council members were concerned, however, that eliminating a trash pickup would lead to health problems if vermin were attracted to garbage left on curbs for days.

The revamped plan has no pickup fee and keeps twice-weekly trash pickups. Exactly which community, or communities, will get to test Harris' plan will be determined in a few weeks.

The city continues to sponsor an islandwide recycling program. It maintains approximately 85 community recycling bins in school parking lots and shopping malls.

Many residents use these recycling bins, as Locascio does, but the rest goes in the trash.

Doing their part

Then there are recycling fiends such as Carol Au of Kahala, who sorts every major recyclable out of her garbage, from plastic bottles to magazines and white paper.

What she can't recycle, she tries to re-use two or three times before she tosses it into the garbage.

In Au's kitchen, mixed with the silverware are plastic spoons and forks, while a stack of empty yogurt cups sits in the cupboard. She fills them with chunks of fruit for her 4-year-old son, David, to take to school. "It's good because then he can just throw it away afterward," Au said.

She also uses plastic bags two or three times and lines her trash cans with plastic shopping bags.

"We stopped recycling as much as we used to," Au said. "We were keeping stuff in our garage. Then we started noticing roaches."

She and her husband used to live in California, where recycling was much easier. While it doesn't take much work to rinse things out, Au admits that she wonders if she's wasting water.

Even with two small children in the house, Au rolls the big garbage can out to the street for only one of the twice-weekly trash pickups.

"Most of our garbage is wet gar-bage. We would compost it, but with two young kids it's hard," Au said.

Her son's room is decorated with toys made from items saved from the trash. Hanging in one corner of the room is a space mobile complete with an asteroid of crumpled foil and a rocket ship made from an old contact-lens solution bottle. Tacked onto the boy's bulletin board is a "Super Sleuth Certification" his father printed on the back of an old fax. Sitting on a chest of drawers is a bumble bee made out of black pipe cleaners and a nylon stocking stuffed with cotton.

There aren't many people as diligent at recycling as Au. Or Locascio.

At her apartment building in Nu'uanu, Lydia Kiefer drops her garbage down a chute — glass, paper, everything. "I kind of get lazy, and I toss it," Kiefer admitted. Like most apartment buildings in Honolulu, Kiefer's does not have any recycling containers.

Making it easy

While city recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones says there is recycling potential in empty food cans and plastic containers such as shampoo bottles or plastic milk cartons, she stresses that the best way to get everyone recycling is to make the process as simple as possible.

Right now, community recycling bins collect newspapers and drink containers.

"If we were collecting tin cans in community recycling bins, we'd have more issues with pests," Jones said. Whereas, it's pretty easy to give a soda can a quick rinse.

The city also won't accept any wet garbage. Items such as potato and orange peels and eggshells must be left in the trash.

Until the city adopts a closed-container collection system, composting at home is the only option for wet trash. "We're just not there yet," Jones said, adding that virtually everything purchased in fast food restaurants is not recyclable.

"If you're going to eat fast food or a plate lunch, plastic versus paper is not the question," Jones said. "People concerned about the waste need to make different choices."

Recycling facts and figures

• What is H-Power? H-Power converts 2,000 tons of waste per day into electricity to power more than 60,000 O'ahu homes. The incineration process reduces O'ahu's waste volume by 90 percent, with the leftover ash going to the landfill. At H-Power, large magnets pull aluminum and food cans out of the waste stream, recycling a total of between 15,000-20,000 tons each year. The city is trying to expand H-Power continues to look at alternative technologies.
• Where do recyclables go? Each recyclable item has a different story. Almost all paper is sent to Asia. Much of the metal waste is sent to South Korea, where the market for recyclables is strong. Some plastics go to Maui, where the Aloha Plastic Recycling company recycles it into picnic tables, benches, and plastic lumber.
• Some glass recyclables are used as "glasphalt," an experimental road pavement material. Much of the glass is shipped to California, where it is manufactured into new container glass.
• Starting in January 2005, a nickel deposit will be imposed on beverage containers. Consumers can get money back when they recycle the containers.
• By law, bars and restaurants have to recycle glass and cans. In addition, businesses that produce large volumes of food waste — such as hotels, big restaurants, and hospitals, food processing plants — must recycle foodwaste into animal feed.

Tips for recyclers

Plastic grocery bags: Can be taken to Safeway stores.

Aluminum cans, plastic beverage bottles, glass bottles and jars: Rinse, remove lids and deposit loose in a community bin at any of the city's recycling locations. Labels OK, but no plastic bags.

Cardboard: Corrugated (packing boxes) cardboard only; must flatten boxes. No cereal boxes, detergent boxes, tissue boxes, etc. Deposit in paper section of the community recycling bin.

Autos, batteries, tires: All junk autos, car batteries and tires are channeled to recyclers. To arrange for free auto junking service for your car, call 532-4325 or go to a satellite city hall. To report abandoned autos, call 733-2530. Give old auto batteries and tires to the dealer when purchasing new ones or take them to the city convenience center nearest you. State law requires the dealer to accept and recycle them.

Money for your recyclable materials: Reynolds Aluminum Inc. (formerly Tomra) buys aluminum, copper and brass at shopping area locations around O'ahu. Call 487-2802 for locations and hours of operation.

On the Web: The city has put up a comprehensive recycling Web site. See www.opala.org for more information.