Huge fire bares recycling firm to examination
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Sand Island recycling company is scrambling to clean up and repair damage from a four-alarm fire on Friday, but the blaze is drawing scrutiny to problems at the site and raising questions about city plans for an islandwide residential recycling program.
Island Recycling Inc. owes the state almost $100,000 in back rent and electricity charges, has been cited by health inspectors for allegedly polluting a canal, and has built 11 structures without city permits, according to officials and public records.
But Island Recycling President James Nutter questioned whether the rent was appropriate and said the water and building violations are being blown out of proportion.
The company has a city contract to process material collected from 11,000 Mililani households through a curbside recycling pilot program, and was the low bidder for a contract to handle a much larger load if the program is expanded islandwide.
Nutter said the fire won't stop the Mililani program or the expansion, and that the company should be back in operation by tomorrow night.
"We're expecting to get back on our feet right away, and to get back to where we were or even better," he said. "One of the things about the fire is that it's going to force us to re-evaluate everything we do and try to make sure everything is done in the best way possible."
The islandwide plan has been sharply questioned by several City Council members, who wonder whether it has been fully thought out, with all costs accounted for. No contract has been awarded while various options are considered.
Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said the fire and history of permit problems show that scrutiny is warranted.
"Any company we do business with should have all the correct permits," he said. "I think this just validates a lot of our concerns."
City recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones said the islandwide program has been well planned, and that more details will be available soon.
"Island Recycling seems to be cleaning up and regrouping quickly," Jones said. "We will stay in close contact with them over the next week to see how this may impact the Mililani collection program as well as the long-term plans for expansion."
She said the city would suspend the Mililani program only as a last resort. Mayor Jeremy Harris had no immediate comment on the fire or plans to expand residential recycling.
The company owes the state approximately $67,000 in rent for the past year because its operations stretched beyond the harbor property it leases, according to the Department of Transportation.
"We noticed starting last year that they were encroaching on three adjacent parcels in the area," department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said. "It appears they were doing it for up to two years."
Island Recycling pays approximately $13,000 per month in rent, and owes about $35,000 for electricity, Ishikawa said.
Nutter said control of the property recently had passed from another state agency, and that there had been some confusion about the extra land.
"It wasn't part of our lease and we found out later," he said. "I don't know how they can charge me if we never rented the property."
State health inspectors notified the company last month that it appeared to be illegally polluting a canal that flows through the site — an industrial area off Sand Island Access Road — and into Ke'ehi Lagoon. The Department of Health ordered Island Recycling to stop discharging polluted water into the canal, pick up trash from its banks, and apply for a permit to discharge storm water associated with industrial activity, according to an April 6 violation notice.
Nutter said workers had been washing some equipment when inspectors arrived, but that water does not normally enter the canal.
The city has cited Island Recycling for building 11 structures on the site without building permits since 2001, but the company has been working to obtain them, records show.
Nutter said he did not know city permits were needed to build on unincorporated state land, and that they had not been required of previous tenants.
"We've been trying to get these things resolved," he said.
Rod Tam, chairman of the City Council's public works committee, questioned whether the city should end its ties with the company.
"It's sad what happened to Island Recycling, but I've been there and could see why it was exposed to fire hazards," he said. "They had just piles of rubbish everywhere."
Among the company's clients are The Advertiser and other newspapers and businesses that sell it recyclable paper.
The city pays the company $55 for every ton of mixed recyclables collected in Mililani that it processes and ships out of state, mostly to Asia. The company offered to process and market such material at $36.50 per ton if the city expands the program to include all households on O'ahu. One other company bid on that contract, offering to handle the material for $68 per ton.
EnviroWatch Inc., a nonprofit environmental group, last month filed a protest against Island Recycling's bid for the islandwide contract, based on its city and state violations.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
