EDITORIAL
Trash disposal options don't eliminate landfill

The City Council has an obligation to hear every potential solution to O'ahu's trash-disposal problem. So the decision to entertain offers from two firms that would ship a portion of our trash to the Mainland is a sensible one.

But even if substantial financial and logistical obstacles to the proposal can be overcome, the need for homegrown solutions will remain.

At best, the Mainland shippers would be able to deal with only a relatively small percentage of the 1.6 million tons of garbage we generate each year. In the long term, dealing with our trash problems will require a number of approaches, all operating at the same time.

This will include maintaining the existing H-Power plant, probably expanded by adding a third boiler for additional capacity and maintenance redundancy.

It also will require a stronger focus on recycling. Hawai'i has been slow to embrace recycling, but it is an idea whose time has come.

The Harris administration hopes to launch a recycling program in November that eventually would be available islandwide. Not only will recycling ease the demand on our landfill, it will encourage an environmental ethic.

Long-term, there may be new technologies such as plasma arc, which will allow us to safely and efficiently burn more of our garbage here at home. But no matter what technologies and solutions emerge, there will be a continuing need for a landfill for the foreseeable future.

Thus, while it is useful for the council to explore new high-tech options and to entertain offers from those who would ship some of our garbage out of state, a decision on a new landfill site should be made, and made soon.