Posted on: Thursday, November 11, 2004

Ruling postpones recycling program

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

O'ahu's first islandwide household recycling program was put on hold yesterday after a judge ruled that a dispute with city garbage workers must be dealt with first.

The program was to begin as early as next week, but the ruling means it will likely be delayed for at least a month, and might not start before Mayor Jeremy Harris leaves office in early January.

"Obviously, we've been delayed, and we'll have to determine the extent of the delay," city Environmental Services director Frank Doyle said. "I think it's a considerable setback, because we're ready to go."

Doyle said publicly for the first time that the city has decided to pay private companies to collect recyclables from homes, rather than utilize city garbage workers.

The option had been under consideration for months, and several firms have bid on the work, but no contracts have been awarded yet.

The United Public Workers union says privatization would violate a 1998 union agreement that allowed the city to shift from manual garbage collection to automated collection.

The change allowed one worker in a truck to pick up the amount of trash that required a crew of three workers before, but the agreement bans privatization of such work, according to a lawsuit filed by UPW.

The city contends that the deal was superceded by a 2001 state law that allows privatization of public services, and that recycling is separate from garbage collection.

Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna ruled that the city should take no action until a class-action grievance filed by the union goes through an arbitration process.

That will likely take at least one month, but it's impossible to know for sure, said city deputy corporation counsel Paul Tsukiyama.

UPW believes privatized recycling would lead to a loss of union garbage-collection jobs and would impact working conditions, said UPW attorney Herb Takahashi. But Doyle said that's not true.

"There would be absolutely no change in our present work schedules, no impact on our employees, and no jobs lost," Doyle said.

The companies that bid lowest on two collection contracts are Pacific Waste Services and International Resource Recovery Inc., he said.

The city and union had clashed over plans to run the recycling program with city garbage workers out of a single baseyard in Waipahu, rather than out of seven yards scattered around the island. Union officials believed that would upset a system through which worker seniority determines how garbage-collection routes and overtime are distributed, according to documents filed with the court.

Doyle said the city could save $400,000 per year by running the program with a private contractor out of single yard.

Yesterday's ruling was the second big setback for residential recycling over the past three months. A recycling pilot program in Mililani that used city garbage workers was suspended in August after the state Labor Relations Board ruled that the city had improperly continued it after an agreement with UPW expired.

Harris has pushed hard to launch the program before his term expires, but City Council members have long questioned whether the administration has worked out all the details.

"It's unfortunate that the mayor rushed this project through," said council chairman Donovan Dela Cruz. "It seems there are a lot of unresolved issues."

Harris was in Kansas yesterday to deliver a speech, and could not be reached for comment.

The program was to be phased in over seven months, and the city has dropped off thousands of blue recycling carts to homes in Central O'ahu and the North Shore in preparation. Harris has also begun airing TV and radio announcements about the program.

The messages don't specify when collection of recyclables will begin, so the city will continue airing them while the dispute is pending, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said. The city is spending $52,000 to run the messages for three weeks, she said.

Questions about where recyclables will end up also are still unresolved. The city has tentatively chosen Island Recycling Inc. to process the material, but no contract has been awarded yet, and the company is being forced to move from state property it leases on Sand Island.

Island Recycling President Jim Nutter said the company is considering several alternative sites, and hopes to lease one as soon as next week. He said he's confident the company will be able to handle an influx of material despite the move.

"We're ready to go whenever the city is ready," he said.

Reach Johnny Brannon at 525-8070 or jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.