Kapa'a Quarry group targets illegal dumpers
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — As a private campaign that will focus on prosecution to stop people from dumping trash on Kapa'a Quarry Road kicks off Friday, the city is gearing up to expand the concept to the entire island.
The "Bust-A-Dumper" campaign, sponsored by the Kapa'a Quarry Road Working Group, includes a multi-faceted approach to end dumping through education, disposal rule changes, fund-raising, landscape restoration and stewardship projects.
But its main focus is a unique effort to hire off-duty police officers as well as civilian volunteers to identify people who dump trash along Kapa'a Quarry Road. Information such as license numbers will be recorded and turned over to authorities for prosecution.
The Kapa'a Quarry Road Working Group is made up of residents, community organizations, Kapa'a Quarry Road property owners and commercial tenants, and state and city government representatives.
Patrols will begin later this month, but the group has scheduled a sign-waving and rally for Friday to draw attention to its efforts. Volunteers will hold anti-dumping signs at both ends of Kapa'a Quarry Road from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. A public rally will take place at Kapa'a Transfer Station from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m.
In the meantime, the city, in cooperation with the campaign, is working to unite similar groups that seek to clean up the environment, said Suzanne Jones, city recycling coordinator.
"We want to see if there are ways the city can further empower their efforts," Jones said, adding that more than 50 organizations have expressed interest in joining a coalition.
Jones said she has not yet reached out to these groups but has scheduled an initial meeting for Oct. 13. They also are being invited to an all-day conference Oct. 27 at Hilton Hawaiian Village about "Fostering Sustainable Behavior: How To Get People To Do The Right Thing." No time has been set.
An environmental psychologist will address the conference on ways to change people's behavior to improve such things as conservation of resources and protection of the environment, she said.
Any coalition that results from the meetings would, like the Kapa'a Quarry Road Working Group, decide its own structure and goals and the city would provide support, Jones said.
The Kapa'a Quarry Road Working Group worked with the state and city on a recent cleanup.
But the group on its own has raised $15,000 from local businesses to pay for its policing patrols and received two grants to pay for expenses and a study on illegal dumping patterns.
Group 70 Foundation gave the group $5,000, some of which was used to purchase tools for the cleanup and supplies. The Kailua Bay Advisory Council financed the dumping study with a $2,000 grant.
The group also will begin a fund-raiser, selling $10 coupons good for five trees for a beautification project on the road. Residents also will get one free tree with every purchase.
Shannon Wood, a member of the Kapa'a Working Group, said the campaign wants to address illegal dumping once and for all islandwide, although for now it will focus on the Quarry Road. The Kapa'a Group is willing to help any organization and will join the coalition, Wood said.
Wood said she hopes the campaign, arrests and prosecutions, education and restorations will change dumpers' behavior toward the environment.
"We can't continue to clean up after other people," she said. "It's discouraging."
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
Correction: The public rally for the Bust-A-Dumper campaign will run from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. An incorrect time was given in a previous version of this story.
