Mililani households sort through recycling details
| • | Map: Mililani recycling pilot program |
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Caliboso household has recycling newspapers and aluminum cans down pat, but as the city launches its four-month curbside recycling pilot program in Mililani this week, they will have to learn what else gets separated.
"There will probably be some (trash and recyclables) that gets mixed up, but we'll try at least in the beginning to get into the spirit of the program," Amy Caliboso said.
On recycling days, the city will pick up aluminum, but not steel or tin; newsprint, but not glossy inserts or magazines; and narrow-necked plastic and glass containers, but not those that held hazardous materials.
Caliboso and her husband and two children are one of about 11,000 Mililani households selected by Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration for the pilot program that will be used as a basis for islandwide curbside recycling, which could get started as soon as July 1 if approved by the City Council.
An islandwide plan would affect the 160,000 households that receive automated trash collection from the city — primarily single-family homes, but not apartments or condominiums.
In the pilot program, Mililani residents will continue to have their trash picked up twice a week, and also will be asked to put out either yard waste or recyclables the day after the first trash collection of the week.
This week, the city will be picking up green waste collections. The first pick up for Mililani Mauka and northeast Mililani will be tomorrow.
Midway through the four-month program, residents will be asked to voluntarily give up one of their two weekly trash collections. A plan Harris proposed earlier this year for the entire island would have charged residents $8 a month to continue having their second trash collection day, which was part of the reason it was rejected by the City Council.
The Mililani pilot program will not include any user fees, so although it has generated many questions from residents sorting through the details, there have been few complaints at the city's recycling office and the Mililani Town Association.
The Calibosos already have experience in recycling. For the past few years, the family has been collecting their aluminum cans, as well as those from both sets of grandparents, for an annual recycling drive at 10-year-old Kayla's school.
"We save all year round for that one drive," Caliboso said. "It does build up, but their class tends to win the pizza party at the end, or at least be close to the winner."
Aluminum cans, therefore, will still go to Mililani Mauka Elementary School.
One question many people have had is whether their 96-gallon, gray trash can is big enough to hold two weeks' worth of yard waste.
Residents could ask for a green recycle bin at no cost. But Caliboso said she got a late start in requesting an extra container from the city. Until one is delivered, her family will have to use their gray garbage bin to leave out yard clippings or mixed recyclables on curbside collection days.
City Recycling Coordinator Suzanne Jones said she has heard from some people who say they need more than one of the green recycling bins. Others have told her they do not have enough space for an extra 96-gallon container and want to use their gray bin for both trash and recycling. She said their input is valuable and could lead to additional bin choices when the city rolls out an islandwide plan.
As of last week, the city had received 3,700 requests for a free green recycling bin, indicating that at least 35 percent of Mililani residents would participate in the program.
In addition, Jones said that since delivery started, more requests have flooded in. Jones said the city may not be able to fulfill the second wave of requests right away, but those residents can use their gray bins in the meantime.
"I'm also wondering if we'll have another surge of requests when they see how many of their neighbors are recycling," Jones said. The bins will be available throughout the four-month pilot program.
Mililani resident Annette Chun, a federal employee, said she and her husband do not generate much trash, and once they separate their recyclables they might be able to get by on one trash collection a week.
"The only thing I would be concerned about is it sitting there for a whole week," she said.
Busy lifestyles have prevented Chun and her husband from recycling in the past, but the program provides motivation.
"I think it will take a minimal amount of time, and given the benefit, I don't mind doing the extra," she said. "I only see it as being positive. I'm surprised we haven't done this sooner."
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
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