Illegal dumping found at three more locations

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wayne Shelton of the City and County refuse and convenience center in Hale'iwa, stands over the hull of a discarded airplane at the dumpsite. The site was one of three where illegal dumping was discovered yesterday. Photos by Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Wayne Shelton, a heavy-truck driver at the City and County refuse convenience center in Hale'iwa, says that acetylene tanks were dumped at the station even though the site is not authorized to handle them.

Dozens of abandoned cars, tons of construction material and even an airplane marred the three sites from Hau'ula to Hale'iwa unveiled yesterday during a tour with state Sen. Melodie Aduja and Carroll Cox, president of EnviroWatch Inc.

New instances of illegal dumping have been uncovered with alarming frequency in recent months, and even more are expected to be found, partly because of development encroaching on land that once was rural and largely uninhabited and because of a kind of culture of dumping.

The new finds, combined with perennial problem dumping spots such as Kapa'a Quarry Road in Kailua and parts of Waimanalo and the Leeward Coast, have already generated state and federal scrutiny, and Aduja yesterday called for new legislative hearings aimed at finding a solution.

"We have to find a more efficient system," said Aduja, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku). "This system is broken and it's leading to criminal conduct. The ramification is we don't know how damaged the environment has become."

Two of the sites unveiled yesterday are on city property.

Illegal dumping uncovered since March at or adjacent to a former city incinerator site in Waipahu has already sparked state and federal investigations and resulted in more than $500,000 in fines for the city.

The sites unveiled yesterday were:

In Hau'ula: An estimated 30 cars, a bus, 50 tires and a wide assortment of household trash was being gathered into piles on a 110-acre lot on Puhuli Street. Most of the junk was on about three acres of land next to the road.

The land belongs to Buddha's Light International Agriculture Inc., and the private contractor removing the trash said they had spent $30,000 in the past six months to gather the junk. It has yet to be removed.

In La'ie: The city baseyard here, just off Kamehameha Highway, contains tons of concrete rubble piled up in a huge mound at the back of the property. There was also a neat pile of metal rails.

In Hale'iwa: At the city's refuse and convenience center, acetylene tanks, propane tanks and five-gallon plastic containers of unknown material were found. An airplane was in a ravine adjacent to the center.

Cox said the tanks and containers pose an environmental threat to a wetland nearby. Runoff from the convenience center flows downhill to the wetland, he said.

"These things are becoming like mini-dumps, waste dumps," Cox said. "They just sit here and leach out. That wasn't the intent. It was a convenience to the public."

Carol Costa, city spokeswoman, said the city has a regular schedule to remove trash from convenience centers and doesn't accept acetylene tanks but people leave them anyway. The city also doesn't accept oil, but that doesn't stop people from dumping it at the centers, Costa said, adding that the city must make special arrangements to remove the oil.

Costa said she wasn't able to get more information about the concrete rubble, but believes it might be destined for reuse. Other construction material at the sites is usually dumped illegally by the public, she said.

The state Department of Health is investigating the three sites, as it did when four instances of dumping were uncovered at or adjacent to a closed city incinerator site in Waipahu.

Cox, who has led officials to a number of illegal dumping sites, said he knows of at least 20 such locations on O'ahu, but believes there are 200 to 300 more on the island, in Wai'anae, Campbell Industrial Park, Mokule'ia and Kahuku.

"Any country road will have a dumping," Cox said. "Any road you turn down you'll find unless it's really locked and even then guys find a way in."

Cox said the biggest problem is the state doesn't aggressively pursue the problem. "When I do call they explain it away," he said adding that the state told him that the rubble at La'ie was to be reused and it doesn't regulate reuse of construction material.

The Health Department investigates illegal dumping when it is reported, said Larry Lau, deputy director for Environmental Health.

He said he would like to do more inspections but the city and state are strapped for resources. He said he has only three solid waste inspectors statewide, and all of them are on O'ahu.

"The city is doing everything it can to keep these things off the roadways, spending money and a lot of resources," said Frank Doyle, city director for Environmental Services. "If strengthening laws would help, we're all for it."

Aduja called for a concerted effort by all parties involved in waste and waste management to resolve the problem. She is co-chairwoman of a new Waste Management Committee and hopes to put together a package of bills for the next Legislature to address, including abandoned vehicles and illegal dumping.

Aduja said she has met with recyclers and wants to hold public hearings on the issue.

She suggested solutions ranging from imposing a refundable pre-disposal fee for automobiles, increasing the amount of recycled products the state and city purchases, increasing the penalty for illegal dumping, reducing the liability of private recyclers to get material from private property, offering tax incentives to recyclers and giving recyclers a tipping-fee exemption.

But officials also blamed a culture of dumping for the illegal sites uncovered in recent months.

People just toss their trash along deserted roads and ravines, Aduja said, adding she has seen hazardous material such as asbestos-coated tiles and automobile batteries next to streams, where it can leak into the groundwater.

Costa agreed.

"Can you imagine if we didn't have the convenience centers how greater the problem would be?" she said. "The public seems to be unwilling to dispose of things properly."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.