Changes in trash pickup outlined

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

If the City Council moves quickly to approve a curbside recycling program, O'ahu residents could see major changes to their garbage pickup as soon as July 1.

One of the two weekly trash pickups on O'ahu will be for recyclable items or green waste under the mayor's plan. Advertiser library photo

In describing his plan yesterday for mandatory recycling, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris said he is confident that residents will get the hang of the new system.

He also said the city will help, with stickers, calendars, signs and even door-to-door encouragement from city workers.

On Sunday, Harris proposed that one of the two automated weekly trash pickups at 160,000 homes on O'ahu be converted to a pickup of yard waste and recyclables such as glass, newspapers and plastics.

Those who want to keep the second weekly trash pickup will have to pay $8 a month.

Honolulu is one of only a few large U.S. cities that does not have some kind of mandatory recycling program and the city has been struggling for years to deal with the problem of limited landfill space.

To Councilman Nestor Garcia, whose Waipahu-Mililani-Makakilo district includes the Waimanalo Gulch landfill and several alternative dump sites, mandatory recycling seems like a good idea. "We've got to start somewhere," he said. "We've got to do something to try managing our waste."

"If anything, it forces us to think about how we deal with a situation that is literally piling up in our backyard," Garcia said.

Councilman Mike Gabbard, the chairman of the Public Works Committee, said the mayor's plan looks "very good." "It might need some tweaking, but I think it's definitely something that we can work with," he said.

But Gabbard said he thinks the city must embark on a massive educational program to make sure residents know why recycling is essential. "I think people's hearts are in the right place, but sometimes they just need a friendly nudge, and that's what this program is," he said.

Council members Ann Kobayashi and Charles Djou said they would like to hear more details, but neither of them had objections.

Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club Hawai'i chapter, said he hopes the City Council will support the new initiative.

"We're very encouraged and we hope that the council can see the obvious benefits and do what so many other cities have done," he said.

Here's how it will work:

• The first collection day of the week will be for regular trash.
• The following day, residents should leave out bottles, plastics and bundled newspapers for collection.
• On the same day on alternating weeks, residents will put yard waste in the regular trash bin.

Once the program starts, city workers will make random spot checks on trash bins. If homeowners continually put green waste or recyclable items in their bins for regular trash pickup, the city won't pick up their trash.

If the recycling plan is implemented, Harris said city employees will go door-to-door telling residents of the changes to their pick-ups and will also provide information on how to sign up for the second day of regular trash pickup.

Residents will be responsible for keeping track of regular and recycling days, but will get help from printed materials, such as calendars, from the city.

Those who have paid the $8 monthly fee for the second pickup will receive a sticker to place on their trash can. Harris said annual and four-month stickers will also be available.

Unless residents pay about $70 for an extra receptacle, they will use the same city-issued trash can for all collections.

Until the city has a count of how many people will pay for an additional collection day, Harris said it is unclear whether more employees will be needed for the recycling program. "We have the fleet and we think we have the manpower," he said.

With the $8 fee to cover an additional day of pickup, the program is not expected to cost the city extra money, he said. Even if the city has to pay a private operator to recycle its trash, it will save $44 on each ton that it does not have to bring to the H-Power plant.

"All of this will be at least revenue neutral, or maybe save us money," Harris said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.

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