Solution near for junk cars on Maui

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — The end may be in sight to Maui's scrap-metal processing crisis — a problem that has seen scores of derelict vehicles appear on the island's roadsides in recent months.

"That's good news," said Jan Dapitan, director of Maui's Community Work Day/Keep Hawai'i Beautiful litter program. "It's really been a nightmare to think we're being swamped by metal hulks."

Maui County's derelict-vehicle removal program has been crippled since the state Department of Health shut down the county's former scrap-metal contractor for not meeting solid-waste standards last year. The county has been trying to find a replacement contractor, but regulatory obstacles and legal challenges have stood in the way.

Left without a qualified contractor to remove hazardous waste from crushed junk cars and other scrap-metal items, the program has floundered. Existing vehicle storage areas are full and derelict cars remain where they were abandoned.

The problem of derelict cars resonates statewide.

On O'ahu, the city's Motor Vehicle Control Section received 33,424 complaints about abandoned and derelict vehicles during the 2003-04 fiscal year, resulting in 7,930 vehicles being towed off public and private property.

On Maui, Dapitan estimated that 300 derelict cars are visible along Maui's roads and thousands more are tucked into the bushes. "We have a real serious issue," she said.

David DeLeon, executive assistant to Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, said a permit allowing scrap-metal processing is expected to be issued to Mike Kitagawa of Kitagawa Towing & Transport in Kahului no later than today.

Kitagawa said a new bailer is expected to arrive by the end of this week, but the Alamaha Street business won't become operational before a loading dock is constructed to help ship the crushed vehicles off island. He said he plans to process 25 to 40 cars a day and ship them to the Mainland weekly.

Once Kitagawa's operation starts, he plans to begin processing the 800 or so vehicles stored by the county at the Central Maui Baseyard near Pu'unene.

It will take only a week to 10 days to process enough of the backlog to allow a continuation of the county's derelict-vehicle removal program, Kitagawa said.

In the meantime, the Maui Police Department yesterday issued a formal plea urging the public to report illegal dumping of derelict vehicles and household appliances.

Police Lt. Jon Morioka said those who see such activity should try to obtain a vehicle description, license plate number and suspect description without putting themselves in harm's way.

Dapitan said her volunteer litter-pickup organization has been receiving calls every day from people wondering what to do with their old appliances and broken-down cars. Callers are being told to hold on.

"It's an epidemic," she said. "We were thinking of a beautification project: planting a tree in each of the abandoned vehicles."

With the situation reaching a critical point in March, the Maui County Council dipped into county savings to provide an additional $825,000 to help process more than 1,000 vehicles stored at the closed Waikapu Landfill.

Maui's junk-car problems worsened after the Health Department ordered the previous contractor, Maui Scrap Metal Co. in Waikapu, to halt operations until it complied with solid-waste rules. The company was fined $202,900 for operating without a valid permit and remains ineligible to handle vehicles.

The county's search for a new contractor has been thwarted by a protest and a court appeal. In October, the county went out to bid again, choosing Kitagawa, apparently the only one of a handful of bidders to meet all of the requirements. But a losing bidder protested again, which caused more delays.

DeLeon said another proposal to store and process vehicles in the Pu'unene area has been stalled at the County Council level.

Reach Timothy Hurley at (808) 244-4880 or thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.