EDITORIAL
Recycling on O'ahu: not whether, but how

The good news about Mayor Jeremy Harris' plan to start a pilot recycling program in an O'ahu community yet to be named is that we're moving forward on something that should have happened long ago.

The bad news is that this step forward seems likely to be followed by a step backward. Harris appears to be trying to steal a march on the City Council, which is working on a resolution that will give the mayor guidance about what the members would like to see in a recycling program.

The council didn't like many of the features of the recycling program in Harris' original proposal, including charging an $8 monthly fee to those residents who continue to want twice-weekly garbage pickup.

They also thought residents would need more than one container, rather than using the same one for both recyclables and garbage; and they suspected Harris was in some ways trying to reinvent the wheel, without benefit of the experience and better ideas of Mainland communities that have been recycling for years.

Harris may well be right that most residents won't want or need a second weekly garbage pickup, because half or more of their garbage is recyclable.

But Harris may as well reconcile himself to the fact that this council has ideas of its own, and will not be stampeded.