Joe Whelan is the general manager of Waste Management of Hawaii Inc., which operates landfills on three islands, including the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill on O'ahu.

Q. How do you deal with all of the criticism aimed at the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill?

A. That's the challenge for me. What makes it exciting is that from the day-to-day operations that we have, our goal is to take waste that comes to the landfill and dispose of it in a safe and environmentally conscious manner. At the same time we realize that people wish there wasn't any waste. Certainly if there is waste, they wish it wasn't in their backyard. But there is. That's a function of the society that we live in. So it's incumbent upon us as the operator to do what we can to balance that challenge of society demanding more and more progress with our responsibility to be good environmental stewards. As a company that's what we think we do best.

Q. What is Waste Management of Hawaii responsible for?

A. Waste Management of Hawaii operates three municipal solid waste landfills: one on O'ahu, one on Kaua'i and one on the Big Island. We have no collection at this time in Hawai'i, so we operate those landfills that are owned by the individual counties and are under contract to Waste Management for the operations.

Q. When did you take over?

A. Nov. 1, 2007.

Q. You had a similar job on the Mainland?

A. I've been with Waste Management for about 5 1/2 years. Prior to that I worked 15 years with Browning-Ferris Industries on the Gulf Coast. Shortly after I got out of college I worked for the government of Maryland as an inspector, so I kind of worked both sides of the fence.

Q. Are there any differences in how you approach your job here as opposed to on the Mainland?

A. No. The regulations are all based on federal regulations. Of course the culture is different in every place that you live. Hawai'i has an absolutely wonderful culture. The people here are very honest and open and they expect you to be. It's been a good atmosphere to do business, as well as a welcoming atmosphere for someone who's going to a culture that they're not familiar with.

Q. Are the concerns and issues about waste management similar?

A. One of the things that's important to remember is the waste business itself is an evolving technology, just like anything else is. I certainly wouldn't compare it to electronics, but as the technology changes for us, we have to adapt to that and the same concerns that people have in other states they have here.

We're a society that demands that we have lots more packaging for everything because we're more mobile, we have higher health concerns and those kinds of things. Unfortunately, because of our lifestyle, we generate more waste than we ever did before, which makes it more difficult in how you dispose of it and why it's so important to do reuse, recycling and those kinds of things.

On the continent, as well as here, the people are realizing that there's always going to be a need for a landfill. It's what we can do upfront of the landfill that we are now trying to concentrate on. Can we do reuse, recycle? Are there other technologies that we can use to eliminate some of the waste stream from going into the landfill? I think the perfect example is the H-Power plant. They still generate some amount of byproducts or products that just don't fit into their system and have to be landfilled. I'm not aware of any technology that completely eliminates the need for some type of byproduct. Plus there's the need for planning for emergencies, natural disasters, things like that. You have to have places that are readily available and meet regulatory guidelines to be able to plan for what we all hope will not happen.

Q. Are contract arrangements the same here as they are in other jurisdictions?

A. There can be privately owned landfills. We don't have any here.Waste Management owns several hundred landfills on the continent and we have many operating contracts with municipalities to operate their landfills. Some municipalities choose to have companies like us do it because of the myriad of regulations that are required for the operation.

Q. Has Waste Management considered running a private landfill here?

A. Not to my knowledge. We're certainly happy with our relationship with the city.

Q. How large is your staff?

A. All told, probably about 30. It takes up a fair amount of property, but we're not involved in collection on any of the islands, so we don't have our trucks going door to door and we're not as visible as we would be on the Mainland because you don't see our Dumpsters or our trucks out there picking up trash.

Q. What are your primary responsibilities?

A. The oversight of all three of the landfills. The other two have managers in place and I oversee the day-to-day operations at Waimanalo Gulch, as well as the other two. I have all of the business part of it: profitability, contract negotiations, public relations, those kinds of things, as well as all of the environmental monitoring and environmental compliance part of it as well. It makes for a pretty busy day. You have to have a really good staff and a good working relationship with the city and the counties and we're very fortunate with all three of them. My experience is that all three are very interested in what we can do to not only run a good landfill, but to look at alternatives and look to the future knowing that we are an island economy, how can we best manage the waste that we are generating.

Q. Was this a job that you pursued? If so, why, because you must have heard about the controversy surrounding the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill?

A. Waste Management has an internal job posting board and I saw it there. As far as any issues associated with this site, those are common to landfills, not any particular thing that may have come out of the newspapers here, but certainly the general idea of permitting a landfill or expanding a landfill. People have concerns about that because we're talking about a waste product. That's the universal thing. It's not just here. That kind of goes with the territory and as I mentioned, that's something that I enjoy doing because I feel good at the end of the day that I'm helping to educate people on what the process of waste reduction and recycling and disposal really is.

Q. You've been here for almost a year. Have you set short-term as well as long-term goals?

A. I want this to be the best-run site that Waste Management has. As far as how we accomplish that, (public relations representative) Russell Nanod and I are working on some items, certain community outreach things that he's been doing that I fully support, and there are some other things that we're looking to do. We're hoping to remain involved in the community.

Russell has had 4,000 people come through here in the last couple of years. I and each of my staff have given numerous tours just to keep our hands in the idea that this is really a teaching operation. If we can explain what we're doing, the more people that know how waste is disposed of, the more they understand the process.