Recycling effort starts off slowly for Mililani Mauka households
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Less than a quarter of Mililani Mauka households monitored by city crews placed yard waste at their curbsides yesterday during the first day of the city's pilot recycling program.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
But city recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones expects participation to improve as older Mililani neighborhoods have their curbside collections today and tomorrow.
Refuse truck operator Kelly Jenkins collected green waste on Kuhea St. in Mililani Mauka yesterday as the city's pilot recycling program got under way.
The Mililani Mauka neighborhoods are the first of three zones in the Mililani area covered by the pilot program that will provide recycling pickups for almost 10,000 homes.
In each zone, the city is monitoring 900 homes. Of the 900 monitored Mililani Mauka households, 192 set out their yard clippings to be recycled, Jones said.
"That's probably good for Mililani Mauka. It's a new community so there's not so much green waste," she said. "Green waste is going to vary depending on the lawns and the degree of lushness and growth."
She expects that the older neighborhoods have more greenery in their yards, so participation might be higher.
This week marks the beginning of the four-month pilot program that the city hopes will be the basis for an islandwide recycling program, which could start as early as July if approved by the City Council. The city administration will submit an islandwide recycling program to the council in March.
Under the pilot program, the city on alternating weeks will pick up yard clippings or mixed recyclables, including newspaper, plastic and glass.
In addition to the 900 homes, city crews yesterday also were monitoring other recycling bins on other routes to make sure they contained only green waste, Jones said. Bins that had mixed recyclables or trash in them were pushed away from the curb so that they were not picked up.
Here are some details for Mililani residents in the city's pilot curbside recycling program. RECYCLABLES (paper, plastics, aluminum cans) • You don't have to separate your recyclables, just put them in the green recycling bin; if you're going to use your regular gray trash bin, put the recyclables in a plastic bag. • Rinse out aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles and jars. Take off the lids and tops off the bottles and jars. Only recycle bottles and jars with narrow neck openings, like milk, juice and household product containers. It's OK to leave on the labels. • Do not recycle containers that held automotive, lawn or garden products. Throw those in the trash or dispose of them as recommended on the label. • Recycle newspapers, but take out the magazines and inserts • Recycle cardboard, corrugated only, with boxes flattened to fit in the cart. Don't include cereal, detergent, tissue boxes or other uncorrugated cardboard items. YARD OR GREEN WASTE (grass trimmings, branches, leaves, foliage) • You don't have to bag the yard waste; just put them in the green bin or your regular gray trash bin on the day of the yard waste curbside pickup. TRASH • Use your regular gray trash bin for nonrecyclable garbage. • These items should be put in the trash and should not be used for recycling: • Tin or steel food cans, which are recycled at the H-Power plant • Ceramics, dishes, glassware, window glass, light bulbs or mirrors • Plastic bags, Styrofoam, junk mail or magazines • Paper, other than newspaper • Telephone books, which should be dropped off at community recycling bins during book distribution months only ENFORCEMENT • Regular trash will be monitored by city employees in bright "Opala" shirts. If you mix up recyclables and trash, you could find a friendly notice attached to your bin.
Some people were so eager to get started with the program that they may have "started pushing out their carts with the mixed recyclables," Jones aid.
Mililani recycling pilot program
The truck drivers also got out to check some of the bins to make sure they contained only yard clippings, because once they are dumped into the truck, the other items cannot be separated out.
The trucks did not pick up excess yard waste set out in bags instead of the recycling bins, and Jones pointed out that residents can use their gray trash bins as well as their recycling bins to set out two containers worth of clippings.
"Two carts should be a lot of capacity for green waste," she said.
Jennifer Pascua, Ho'ailona Street resident in Mililani Mauka, enjoys the convenience of being able to set her yard waste on the curb instead of hauling it off to the the dump.
She plans to set her newspapers and other recyclables on the curb next week, instead of taking them down the street to the recycling bin at Mililani Mauka Elementary School as she usually does.
"It's probably easier to just do it (through the curbside recycling program)," she said.
Mililani Mauka resident Suzanne Hyatt, who lives on Kahele Place, forgot yesterday was a recycling day, but her family did not have any yard waste to set out, anyway. She said she usually has yard waste and plans to set it out during the next collection.
Hyatt will place recyclables for curbside collection Tuesday, she said, adding that her family participated in curbside recycling when they lived at Schofield Barracks.
"I've always wondered why we didn't do it here sooner," she said.
Some residents were confused about what to set out yesterday and returned home to find reminders attached to their recycling bins that said that it was a green waste collection day and their bin contained other items.
Members of the Mililani Mauka/Launani Valley Neighborhood Board are supportive of the pilot program, although some had a few problems.
For example, naval logistics specialist Dean Hazama and several of his neighbors still have not received their green recycling bins, while contractor Marty Ortogero was one of those who thought that all recyclables went out yesterday and set out his plastics and bottles.
"We didn't have any green waste," he said.
While some areas of Mililani Mauka had few participants, other participating households seemed clustered together. Ortogero's neighbors appeared eager to participate.
"It looked like most of them had their green things out there," he said.
Board member Tim Dittrick, who works at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard, said he did not do any yard work this week, but has been saving up his plastic bottles and other recyclables for collection next week.
"This time around, I can probably fill the container up," he said.
Dittrick, who usually donates his aluminum cans to the Central O'ahu Youth Baseball League, said adults should do more recycling.
"We should have done this a long time ago. We encourage the school kids to recycle, and we ourselves don't do anything," he said. "I think we should set an example."
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
