Recycling firms want details
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
With the city about to embark on an ambitious new mandatory recycling program, recycling companies say they support the move, which would increase their business substantially, but are also concerned they don't have the time to prepare for the expected July 1 start date.
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Mayor Jeremy Harris proposed the recycling program last week in his budget request to the City Council. The plan will require all homes to separate their green waste, bottles, newspapers and plastic from other garbage and set them out on the curb for automated collection.
David Rosado, operations manager at Honolulu Recovery Systems off Sand Island Access Road, tosses a plastic bottle into a trailer as he walks between mounds of sorted recyclables: white plastics on the far left, transparents in the middle and glass on the right.
With the start date less than four months away, recycling companies say the city has not yet approached them about bidding for the job or detailed how the operation will work.
"They have to have contracts in place to handle this stuff before they do it," said Jim Nutter, president of Island Recycling.
"What are they going to do with it? There are three major recyclers on the island, and all three are running 80 to 90 percent with what we're doing now. If you double that or add 50 percent volume to what we are doing now, you need time to gear up. It is not that we can't do it, we just need time to be prepared."
Harris has proposed that one of the two automated weekly trash pickups at 160,000 homes on O'ahu be converted to a pickup of either yard waste or recycled items, alternating weekly on the day immediately following garbage pickup. This would allow residents to use the same trash cart for all pickups and save the city $10 million — the cost of buying everyone a separate cart for recycling.
Those who want to can pay $70 for a second cart, and a second weekly pickup of garbage can be purchased for $8 a month.
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Honolulu residents create 1.5 million tons of trash a year. The city recycles 500,000 tons of waste annually, and the curbside program is expected to increase that by 69,000 tons a year.
A pile of compressed plastics, left, stacked 4 bales high, represents about 20 days' worth of O'ahu's recycled plastics. The pile of "mixed" paper on the right is stacked into 52 bales. The company produces 10 bales, or 5 tons, of mixed paper per week.
"The idea with refuse is to dramatically increase our recycling efforts," Harris said.
The mayor said the program is not expected to cost the city any extra money. The extra garbage pickup will be covered by the fee, and the city will save $44 a ton on trash it does not have to take to the H-Power plant for incineration.
"It makes good financial sense," Harris said. "Not in the old accounting sense, when you simply consider how much does it cost to pick up the recyclables and how much do you get paid for the product once you recycle it. It has to be a broader equation. What is the societal cost to using up those resources? What are the costs of more landfills down the line? Plus, from an environmental standpoint, from a global standpoint, it is just the right thing to do."
Suzie Say, general manager of Honolulu Recovery Systems, agrees that it is the right thing to do. She just wonders why it took so long.
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"It's about time," Say said. "We should have been doing this 15 or 20 years ago. Curbside recycling is very effective in other cities. We can get there; it is just educating our people about how to do it and why to do it. People from other states that come here are just amazed that we put everything into the trash."
Dalmacio Agceoili, left, and Irenia Estrada of Honolulu Recovery Systems separate glass, clear plastics and colored plastics from the pile of trash at the company's material recovery facility.
Honolulu Recovery Systems has the city contract to recycle items dropped off at the 85 recycling bins at public schools across the island. Those bins receive about 480 tons of recyclables every week and generate between $60 and $200 for each school, depending on how often they are filled.
The school bin program will continue because residents in condominiums and businesses are not included in the new curbside program.
To handle the expected increase in business, Say will need to hire more employees, set up a shipping contract and possibly find a larger location. All of that takes time, she said.
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"We are willing to do it, but no details have been discussed," she said. "If they are planning to start up a program come summer, even if you give six months to plan, there is a lot to do."
Ernest Rivera feeds a pile of trash that has glass, clear and colored plastics, cardboard and paper onto the conveyor belt that leads to the material recovery facility for separation.
Suzanne Jones, the city's recycling coordinator, said the recycling proposal has evolved very quickly. She is simultaneously working on a public education program, rescheduling trash pickup for the entire island and running the numbers to develop bid proposals. Jones said she has talked to all the major recyclers about the proposal, but cannot provide any details yet.
"The bids are contingent on estimates of volume we will give them, and we can't guarantee that at the get go," Jones said. "In subsequent contracts, we will try."
Jones doesn't know if the city will have to pay a processing fee for companies to handle the increased work or if just being given the materials will be enough of a payment.
Green waste is taken to Hawaiian Earth Products, which has facilities in Kapolei and Kailua. The company chops up the waste to make mulch marketed as Menehune Magic.
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Jones said about 12,000 tons of green waste a year is collected in the current curbside program, and that is expect to jump to about 50,000 tons a year with the new program.
A recycling container is unloaded of its glass and clear and colored plastics at Honolulu Recovery Systems.
Alan Gottlieb, a partner at Hawaiian Earth Products, said the company recently purchased a new shredding machine and opened a second processing plant on Kapa'a Quarry Road. Gottlieb said they can handle the increase as long as there is a market, but the green waste will have to come in "clean."
"Currently, what we get in curbside is in plastic bags. Some is bundled," Gottlieb said. "We've got to go through it and take out the plastic and other contaminants. If it comes in mixed with rubbish, we are going to have a heck of a problem."
Say said the project is very exciting, but it has to be done right.
"Trying to put this into effect without the proper planning and having it fail would be terrible."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
