MILILANI MAUKA — Betty Gearen likens the initial reaction to Mayor Mufi Hannemann's curbside residential recycling proposal to what occurred when Hawai'i adopted the bottle law in 2002.

"When we started the bottle bill, was it successful in the first three months?" said Gearen, Sierra Club's O'ahu group curbside recycling coordinator. "Now, you don't see any bottles. You have to give people a chance to change. It's like a baby learning to walk; it takes a year."

Hannemann's stated commitment to increasing recycling and landfill diversion is reflected in his curbside recycling proposal, which calls for once-a-week trash and recycling collections instead of twice-a-week refuse pickups. The recycling collections would alternate weekly between green waste — yard clippings — and mixed recyclables such as cans, bottles and newspapers.

Residents would have the option of paying $10 a month to have a second weekly trash pickup. Currently, the city provides trash pickup twice a week, plus twice-a-month green waste and once-a-month bulky-item pickup.

Last night's meeting at Mililani Mauka Elementary School was the first of six community meetings scheduled by the mayor islandwide to inform the public about Honolulu's Solid Waste Management Plan and to gather input and ideas for a sustainable recycling system.

Gearan supports the once-a-week trash pickup proposal and wants it to include cans and food wastes. "Honolulu is the largest city in the United States without any curbside recycling," she said.

Stan Patinio, 60, of Mililani raised the issue of having one less trash pickup a week and having to pay an extra $10 to retain what is now normal service. "We pay, we pay, we pay," he said.

Eric Takamura, Department of Environmental Services director, explained that the second trash pickup of the week in most cases is not a full bin and that the fee would encourage people to recycle.

Hiram Aku, 57, of Mililani, wanted to know how the city plans to resolve the sorting problems experienced by a contractor during a 2003 pilot recycling program in Mililani so it wouldn't cost more and also asked what will happen when once-a-week trash pickup falls on a holiday such as Christmas.

Suzanne Jones, the city's recycling coordinator, said the contractor at the time had not invested in sorting equipment. Officials also said adjustments would be made for holiday trash pickups.

Karen M. Luken, senior director of R.W.Beck, the consultant firm hired by the city, said that in the past 17 years, O'ahu has gone from recycling 5 percent of its trash to 35 percent. A consultant study concluded that households that recycle set out 15 fewer pounds of trash per week.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.