Posted on: Tuesday, February 3, 2004

EDITORIAL
Illegal dumping easy to get away with

Gov. Linda Lingle is quite rightly calling for tougher penalties against illegal dumpers.

Unlike some of the more squalid parts of the world, Hawai'i has the infrastructure to dispose of all manner of garbage.

Yet, we have enough abandoned cars and unofficial dumping grounds crammed with junked appliances and furniture to resemble the Third World. And that's economic suicide in a state so profoundly dependent on tourism dollars.

An administration-generated bill would make the illegal dumping of solid waste a felony if the dumped items exceed 10 cubic yards and if the dumper has two prior dumping convictions and dumps more than a cubic yard or if the cleanup exceeds $1,500, according to Advertiser science and environment writer Jan TenBruggencate.

The question is, how do authorities catch the slobs red-handed?

Illegal dumping is frequently carried out under the cover of dark or in remote areas that are not patrolled by police or nosy neighbors.

The motive? Folks don't want to pay the dumping fee or they're plain lazy. For example, on the Windward side of O'ahu, illegal dumping is carried out within sight of the city's Kapa'a transfer station, even though it's open seven days a week.

Granted, the place closes at 4:30 p.m. Perhaps the city could extend the hours at least a couple of days a week.

While we hate to raise the specter of "Big Brother," it's unlikely that the culprits can be caught without some sort of surveillance system rigged up in popular illegal dumping areas.

Another idea is to impose an advance "disposal fee" at the time of sale that would go into a fund that would help pay for proper disposal of items. It would be something like the bottle deposit. Dispose properly and get your fee back in cash.

Of course, no one wants to pay extra and no one wants cameras monitoring their movements. But calling for tougher penalties that no one enforces is probably a waste of time.