When this newspaper you are reading reaches the end of its useful life, you'll have a choice. You can choose to have it buried, cremated or perhaps recycled so it can be reincarnated into a future paper product. That choice will be easier for two O'ahu communities when the long-awaited (and much debated) curbside recycling program begins next month. Thanks to the support of 82 percent of those voting on the curbside charter amendment last November, the city is starting to roll out the mandated islandwide comprehensive curbside recycling program. Honolulu will be joining more than 10,000 cities across the Mainland — more than one-half of all U.S. households — that enjoy this basic amenity. With recyclables conveniently picked up at the curb, there's no excuse not to recycle: no need to drive or hassle with drop-off. Doing the right thing is easy if you can do it in your bathrobe and bunny slippers.

But curbside recycling is more than just feel-good convenience. It saves landfill space, saves money, and helps to save our environment.

A 2006 study commissioned by the city revealed that about half of all household trash on O'ahu is either paper, plastic, metal or glass — items that may be recyclable. Even if only a percentage of these items is actually recycled (the city estimates about 40,000 tons annually will be captured with a curbside program), it's still a sizable chunk out of your trash can. Green waste, food scraps and other organic matter make up another 44 percent. A well-run, comprehensive program could capture up to 90 percent of our trash at home. Farfetched? Alameda County in California is on its way to achieving its goal of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010. With limited landfill space and no good locations to site a future landfill on our island, every bit of waste recycled helps.

Curbside recycling makes good economic sense. One man's trash is another's treasure; recyclable materials are an asset, whereas trash is a liability. Consider: The city's trash consultant found that some 272 million deposit bottles and cans were being landfilled or incinerated annually on O'ahu. That's more than $13 million in deposits — $37,000 every day — up in smoke. These unwanted deposits can be captured by, and used to fund, the curbside program.

Despite having to ship most of our recyclable materials to the Mainland or abroad for processing, there is still value that can be squeezed out. So much so that in 2005 a local recycling company offered to pay the city for the privilege of running the curbside recycling program. A city worker anonymously mailed the Sierra Club the bids received by the city for the program, with one showing that the city would receive more than $400,000 annually after the value of the collected container deposits was factored in. That program was inexplicably canceled by Mayor Mufi Hannemann in 2005. He later suggested in his State of the City address that curbside would cost upward of $300 per household annually. The mayor now states that curbside recycling will cost some $10 million annually. The basis for these cost estimates is unclear. In fact, case studies of other cities show that curbside recycling, if properly managed, may actually save taxpayers money. Mesa, Ariz., with a population of 314,000, saved taxpayers money by integrating curbside recycling into its solid waste management system.

But beyond economics, our environment and future generations are paying the real costs for not recycling. Curbside recycling is better for the environment than burning or burying. This may seem intuitive, but unfortunately the administration is still stretching to convince residents that incineration or shipping trash is somehow preferable. Simply put, "recycling" our trash into greenhouse gas is not a sustainable solution. Given what we know about global climate change and its effects on our island, choosing to spread our trash problem around the globe in the form of global warming pollution should be a non-starter, as is shipping our raw trash to the Mainland. Until we've exhausted all of our reduction and recycling options at home, dumping on another community belies our kuleana.

But what about voluntary measures and education? Aren't they working? Unfortunately, the data aren't favorable. According to the same 2006 city study, household trash on O'ahu has increased 26 percent per person over the past seven years — trash generation is increasing 10 times faster than the population. We'll have to look further up the waste stream to see how we can reduce the 'opala we're producing, but curbside recycling will help divert the waste we already have. It will also complement our other waste-reduction tools, like Hawai'i's bottle law, which has served our environment admirably. Since its start in 2005, we've recycled nearly 1.5 billion bottles and cans statewide. A little change certainly can make a big difference.

So let's embrace our new curbside recycling program as another step to sustainable island living.

Now, what to do with this newspaper? Choose wisely.

Jeff Mikulina is director of the Sierra Club, Hawai'i Chapter. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.

CURBSIDE BEGINS OCT. 29

Curbside recycling begins Oct. 29 in Mililani and Hawai'i Kai. Recyclables (blue bin) and green waste (green bin) will be collected on alternating weeks, on the second pickup day of the week.

The city will continue twice-weekly trash pickup through Jan. 6. Beginning Jan. 7, trash will be picked up only on the first pickup day of the week. Mililani residents may pay $10 a month to continue twice-weekly trash pickup. Hawai'i Kai residents will not have this option.