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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, April 5, 2008

More of Oahu to get curbside recycling

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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GET THE DETAILS

City officials will hold community meetings to explain curbside recycling and the city's rail transit project.

Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Pali Golf Course clubhouse, 45-050 Kamehameha Highway.

April 14, 6:30 p.m. Kalani High School cafeteria, 4680 Kalaniana'ole Highway.

April 28, 6:30 p.m. Hale'iwa Elementary School, 66-505 Hale'iwa Road.

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WHAT GOES WHERE

Each home will have 3 bins for different waste.

Mixed recyclables: OK

Include newspaper, corrugated cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans and plastic bottles and jugs (#1 and #2 plastic codes). Rinse containers. Remove lids. Labels are OK.

Mixed recyclables: NOT OK

No other paper, magazines, telephone books, glossy paper, cereal or tissue boxes. No other glass, such as drinking glasses, ceramics, window glass. No other plastic, such as polystyrene foam, plastic tubs, plastic bags, plastic toys.

Green waste

Includes grass, tree and hedge trimmings; Christmas trees (no ornaments or flocking).

Source: City & County of Honolulu

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EXPANSION SCHEDULE

After Nov. 1, the city will continue to expand its curbside recycling program throughout the island to a total of 160,000 homes:

May 2009:

Waipi'o Gentry to Halawa; in Wahiawa, Whitmore Village, Waipi'o Estates and Launani Valley; in Kane'ohe; and in Waimanalo.

November 2009:

Foster Village to Makiki; and from Kahuku to Kahalu'u.

May 2010:

Makakilo, Waikele and Waipahu; 'Ewa Beach to West Loch; and Hono-kai Hale to Makua on the Leeward Coast.

*Hawai'i Kai and Mililani added in November 2007

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ANSWERS ABOUT CURBSIDE RECYCLING

Pickup Schedule

Collection days will remain the same. For example, if refuse is currently picked up on Monday and Thursday, new collection days will also be Monday and Thursday. The first collection day is for refuse in the gray bin; the second day is for recycling pickup, alternating weekly between the green and blue bins.

Too much stuff?

Additional bins can be requested at no charge — up to two additional green bins for green waste. A second gray bin can be issued to households with large families, to be set out together for the once-a-week trash pickup. Households will be asked to demonstrate need. Call the city's Recycling Office at 768-3200.

Two-month transition

Twice-weekly refuse collection will continue for two months at no charge to get accustomed to sorting recyclables into the blue and green bins and see how much waste remains in the gray bin for refuse pickup.

Tips for Sorting, Recycling and Reducing Waste and Litter

  • Set aside an area in the kitchen, perhaps under the sink, to place a small collection container for mixed recyclables. All of the recyclables can be mixed together, so only a single container is needed.

  • Deposit green waste directly into the bin during yard work. Avoid using bags as much as possible. Heavy amounts of grass clippings may be bagged to prevent clumping. Or place cut branches in the bottom of the bin to help the material slide out during collection.

  • All material must fit in the bin with the lid closed. Bins with green waste or refuse or boxes protruding out the top cannot be collected. Cut branches, flatten boxes.

  • Consider leaving grass clippings on the lawn to reduce your volume of green waste — it's called grass-cycling and adds nutrients to the soil. A full year of grass-cycling is equivalent to one fertilizer treatment.

    Source: City and County of Honolulu

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    People in Kailua, Mokule'ia and Sunset Beach who have been using blue bins for green waste will get a new green bin for green waste and will have to start putting recyclables in their old blue bins.

    It is a bit confusing, said the city's recycling coordinator, Suzanne Jones, but she added that people will eventually adjust.

    The city announced yesterday that its curbside recycling program will add 40,000 homes on Nov. 1 in three areas:

  • North Shore from Mokule'ia to Sunset Beach.

  • Most of Kailua.

  • East O'ahu from Kuli'ou'ou to Kapahulu and Manoa.

    Other homes will be added in 2009 and 2010 until most of the Island is covered. Each home will have three bins: gray bin for trash, blue for recyclables and green for green waste.

    Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday rolled out his plan to expand the four-month-old pilot program now running in Hawai'i Kai and Mililani to the rest of O'ahu. All 160,000 homes on O'ahu that currently receive automated trash pick-up will be converted to the three-bin system by May 2010.

    "We have always said that recycling starts with each of us," Hannemann said.

    Another 20,000 homes cannot be serviced with automated trucks and will have to continue to rely on "manual pickup" that does not involve curbside recycling, Jones said.

    "I think there's large room for confusion," said Linda Ure, who lives in Maunawili and is secretary for the Kailua Neighborhood Board. "I guess we'll have to wash out our blue bin to use for recyclables instead of green waste. But recycling needs to be tended to. It's long overdue in Kailua."

    The blue bins were a leftover from the city's earlier, failed attempt at curbside recycling under Mayor Jeremy Harris and had been converted to green waste pick-up.

    But the blue bins will go back to their intended use for recyclables when the entire island begins shifting to the new program.

    The biggest concern is likely to be over the change in trash pickup schedules to accommodate a third bin, Jones said.

    She urges everyone to remember to look inside the lid of the new bin — or bins — that they will receive before the start of their new service. There will be specific instructions on how to sort recyclables from trash and will explain the details of homes' individual pick-up schedules.

    Basically, homes that receive twice-a-week trash pickup will continue to get service on the same days. Except the second pickup will be used only for recyclables one week and only for green waste on the other week.

    The first pickup of each week will always be used for trash.

    Many people will worry that they won't be able to fit all of their trash into just one pickup per week and will immediately want another gray bin.

    Jones, in fact, expects hundreds of calls in the early days of the new system for each new community.

    "Any program we launch, we get a surge of calls at the beginning, hundreds of calls every week, and then it tapers off," Jones said. "People often call in requesting additional (gray) bins. We say, 'Why don't you sort your recyclables for a while and call us back.' It's a little recycling therapy that my staff does. Change can be a challenge for people. They've got lots of stuff going on in their lives and now they have to change their habits."

    So the city allows for a two-month transition period where trash will continue to be picked up twice per week "until people get accustomed to sorting their recyclables. People ask, 'Can I really manage with once a week garbage pickup?' That two months gives them time to sort through it. Then they start to really see how much less is in that gray bin."

    People who still insist they need a second gray trash bin will be monitored by a city supervisor, who will check to make sure they're not putting unnecessary recyclables or green waste in their trash bins.

    "There are large families who generate volumes of nonrecyclable refuse," Jones said. "They can get two bins for their once-a-week collection. But they have to demonstrate consistent need. We want people to recycle."

    "While I compliment the mayor for announcing three more neighborhoods will receive curbside recycling by year-end, I am disappointed that the mayor is not implementing curbside recycling to all neighborhoods until 2010. I have been a longtime proponent of getting curbside recycling done islandwide as a key part of dealing with the city's growing garbage problem," stated Councilmember Charles Djou. "With O'ahu's limited landfill space and beautiful natural environment, the lack of an islandwide curbside recycling program is not just a 'nice-to-have' but an absolutely 'must-have' for all neighborhoods," Djou added.

    Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.