State approves expansion for Waimanalo landfill
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Department of Health yesterday approved a permit allowing the city to expand the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill by 15 acres, an expected action that adds about five years of storage capacity.
Approval came with about six weeks of capacity remaining at the 64-acre landfill, city officials said. With no alternative, approval was seen as a foregone conclusion.
The city initially proposed to expand the landfill for 15 years but compromised with the community by agreeing to close it within five.
It will take about 15 working days to get the first section of the landfill built and operating, said Steve Chang, chief of the state health department's Solid and Hazardous Waste division.
Work is slated to begin during the second week of June, said Joe Hernandez, district manager of the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill. The new section should be able to receive waste by the end of June.
"All cells should be constructed by five years," Hernandez said. "But the landfill has the potential capacity for at least 25 years."
The city must submit a final closure plan for the landfill by May 1, 2005.
The cost to expand the landfill will be the $7.7 million it costs to operate it annually, city officials said.
The health department is requiring the city to provide a program to minimize the mud and dust from dump trucks, and to update its operations plan. Leeward residents have long complained about litter and odor from the landfill.
The permit also specifies that the city must submit a litter control plan. Landfill operators now run a litter program that includes covering used portions of the landfill and putting up fencing.
Odor misters are being used to reduce odors. But Hernandez said the city may add more of them.
In March the state Land Use Commission gave the city permission to keep the landfill operating for five more years while city officials search for a new landfill site. The city has identified 40 locations on O'ahu as possible sites.
Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
