Officials on Kaua'i reopen search for replacement landfill

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — County officials under Mayor Bryan Baptiste are restarting the search for a new landfill, an effort that died in former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka's administration.

Baptiste administrative assistant Gary Heu said the county will try to use much of the information prepared under the Kusaka effort, which identified seven sites that met environmental, zoning and other requirements.

But one problem is that the landowners of the top three sites oppose their use for a landfill. They are the state of Hawai'i for a site near the existing Kekaha Landfill, Grove Farm Co. for a site near Kipu, and Kealia Plantation LLC for a site near Kumukumu.

Troy Tanigawa, administrative officer of the county solid-waste program, said the county will select the best site it can, and may have to consider condemnation of the land if landowners object.

The Kekaha Landfill, the county's only site for dumping solid waste, already was granted one vertical expansion. The expansion will be full within a year or two, and the county is in the process of seeking from the state Department of Health a second vertical expansion that would pile the trash even higher.

The Kaua'i Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Siting Study of March 2001 identified the seven top sites, but it was sidestepped when the county joined with Lihu'e Land Co. in proposing a landfill a half-mile inland from the old plantation community of Hanama'ulu. The site was not one of the ones designated by the study.

When residents shouted down that plan, the county was left with no alternatives except seeking another expansion for Kekaha and starting over on the search for a replacement landfill site.

Heu said the county also wants to update its 1994 Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, particularly to get a new look at the characteristics of the county's trash stream. That could give a better indication of how much of the waste could be diverted from the landfill through methods such as recycling or composting, and how much could be burned if the county had some kind of incineration facility.

In 2000 the county accepted bids for projects that involved composting, incineration, power generation and other technologies, but none was selected. A similar effort might be launched again, Tanigawa and Heu said, but only after the county has more up-to-date information about what's in the trash.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.