Plans to transport garbage draw fire
| • | Dent made in junk piles at Hilo scrap yard |
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Towering piles of scrap metal in Hilo and Kona generated few complaints from the public, but plans to truck garbage from East Hawai'i to North Kona after the Hilo landfill fills up this year have triggered some angry reactions.
The county has operated the Hilo landfill since the 1960s. It is almost full. Federal law does not allow for expansion of the landfill unless the county redesigns the facility to comply with expensive, modern environmental safeguards.
Instead, the county plans to close the landfill and establish an East Hawai'i Regional Sort Station, where materials will be pulled out of the trash for recycling.
Material that cannot be recycled would be trucked almost 80 miles to the Pu'uanahulu landfill in North Kona. The county estimates up to a dozen truckloads of rubbish a day would be hauled from East Hawai'i to Pu'uanahulu, a solution that is far cheaper than building and operating a new landfill.
The sort station is an interim solution while the county studies permanent "waste-reduction technology." Possibilities include burning the trash to produce power, or anaerobic digestion technology — a process for decomposing organic material.
Finalizing the long-term solution is expected to take five years or more.
Given the long-standing east vs. west nature of Big Island politics, it's not surprising that many West Hawai'i residents were outraged at the idea that Kona would be forced to accept garbage from Hilo.
Randy Vitousek, the lawyer for an owners' association at the Mauna Kea Resort about five miles from the Pu'uanahulu landfill, said residents are worried the extra trucking will worsen traffic congestion along Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, but also want to be sure the county has explored all other alternatives.
"When you have an area that has obviously established itself strongly in the world community as a resort area, it doesn't make sense to then locate industrial uses like power plants and landfills right in the heart of an extremely attractive resort area," he said.
John Ray, a former county councilman who oversaw waste management issues as chairman of the council's Public Works Committee, said officials knew in the mid-1990s the Hilo landfill was obsolete and would have to close, but they waited too long to act.
"I think there just wasn't the political will," Ray said. "It was an easier payoff just to ignore the problem, to continue to extend the life of the Hilo landfill."
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
