Have you checked out The Hot Seat? It's our opinion-page blog that brings in your elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was Suzanne Jones, city recycling coordinator. Below is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Arnold K. Kameda: Numerous other cities, such as Palo Alto and Mountain View, Calif., have had curbside recycling successfully implemented for many years. I have relatives there, and I've been impressed by their simple, yet effective approach, and I've always been frustrated with the Honolulu City and County's lack of such a program, especially since our island state has a greater need to recycle than Mainland cities to protect our 'aina.

Why can't the City and County of Honolulu make this a priority, and what is taking so long? Why can't we adopt "best practices" from other cities that have had such successful programs? I'm sure you will blame lack of funding for this, but lack of funding always comes down to not making such a program a priority and properly publicizing and marketing it to obtain support from Hawai'i citizens. I think most reasonable citizens who see how effective curbside recycling works would make it a priority, even if it meant paying more taxes to support it.

Suzanne Jones: Initially, I think it's important to point out that our city's recycling rate is above the national average, at 35 percent. Mayor Mufi Hannemann has made curbside recycling a priority and is poised to take our current program to the next level. This fall, the mayor plans to roll out a new program that will take the city to the next level. And, if you think about it, we already have a pretty comprehensive curbside program in place. Eleven days a month, the city comes to homes on the island, recycles trash and turns it into electricity for our island. The use of H-Power, combined with our recycling rate, actually takes our landfill diversion rate to 57 percent, again above the national average.

Helen Gibson Ahn: First, I have to say I appreciate the city's recycling efforts to date. As an island state, we should be leaders in recycling, yet we seem to be lagging behind other states in both our recycling efforts and taking care of our land. Having spent time in Europe where recycling was the norm, I was amazed at how easy it was. Recycling was a part of trash disposal, and people just did not think of tossing recyclables anywhere other than in the proper place.

Getting people on board on the need for recycling is a challenge, but a critical one in the development of a successful program. It must also be a combined city and state effort. Please share current and future initiatives planned in order to do this.

Additionally, are there any discussions as to mandatory recycling to include penalties for noncompliance?

Jones: We already have some progressive mandates in place that apply to the commercial sector. Both city agencies and commercial office buildings are required to recycle office paper. Restaurants and bars are required to recycle glass. Large generators of food waste are required to divert that waste to recycling. And we have numerous bans and restrictions at our disposal facilities targeting green waste, cardboard, metals, tires, auto batteries, e-waste and more. Combined with our residential drop-off system islandwide, this is contributing to our higher-than-the-national-average recycling rate. The greatest opportunities are with the commercial sector, which is why we developed our program along that line. But we can do more, and we will. The proposal for the mayor's curbside program doesn't impose a penalty per se, but does offer a disincentive to those who would throw all their 'opala away.

Tina: I recently just came back from Korea and noticed that their street trash receptacles have three separate bins. One for aluminum, one for paper and one for plastic. How hard would it be to implement this? I think this is an easy solution to help with our recycling efforts.

Jones: What we have here in Hawai'i is the HI-5 program. This is a state non-curbside program that appears to be doing well. We would like to increase the availability of HI-5 receptacles in public areas and are working with the state to achieve this.

OutsideObserver: Why don't we have more recyclable containers in public places, including next to rubbish cans, etc.? This is how it's done in Europe, Canada, even elsewhere in the U.S. What, if any, are the hotels in Waikiki doing to collect recyclables? Most hotels elsewhere do this.

Finally, I, too, am VERY FRUSTRATED by the city's failure to institute workable curbside recycling. Why is there such a lack of will on the part of the upper-level administration (not you or your staff)?

Jones: As previously mentioned, we are working cooperatively with the state to get more recycling containers in public places. The hotels in Waikiki, most of them anyway, are engaged in recycling behind the scenes, as I mentioned in the earlier post about the commercial sector.

GotRecycling: Are you aware of any businesses that will lose money when curbside recycling is implemented islandwide? Thank you.

Jones: There is one company that provides curbside recycling collection service to households around the island on a subscription basis, but they have been shifting their market to condominiums, businesses and e-waste collection. Overall, our recycling business would gain.

Karen H.: I am outraged that we have come to the point of shipping our garbage out of state. Shame on us!

Before taking this drastic step, why can't we "force" people to recycle? Mayor Hannemann had proposed having to pay for a second trash pickup. Wonderful — that would prod folks to sort their trash and RECYCLE!

Is there a way to add recycling bins close to trash bins around the island (like parks and the malls) so that it would be easy for people to drop their bottles and cans in the proper receptacle? I end up take my bottle or can with me so I can recycle at home — very inconvenient.

What about curbside pickup? Are there plans to reinstate that program?

It's too bad that everything comes down to money. We hear that we may not have recycling programs because of the cost, yet we find a way to pay to have our garbage shipped out. Is that not losing and wasting our tax dollars? Something is so wrong here.

Jones: I've already addressed some of your questions, but just to reiterate, public recycling receptacles are in the works and so is curbside recycling.

Rolf Nordahl: Mahalo for your efforts; recycling is a hot topic, and I am sure that many of us want to learn more about it.

Almost every day I am asked where people can safely dispose of unwanted computers and displays. What do you advise?

Jones: E-waste is banned from disposal by commercial and business generators, which forces them to recycle their old computers through one of the companies on our Island. We list them on our city Web site, opala.org.

For home computers, I would recommend checking with the manufacturer to find out if they offer take-back options. Some of the big companies like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and others will take back computers from their customers. And the long-term solution lies in producer responsibility on the manufacturer's part.

Otherwise, bulky item pickup or regular trash collection is OK for household items.

Bill Punini Prescott: Has anyone thought of using Kaho'olawe as a place to ship our garbage? It will put unused property to good use for our people while giving relief to the sacredness of our Wai'anae lands.

Jones: I don't believe that Kaho'olawe is an appropriate site for garbage disposal. It, too, is considered sacred by many.

Lisa: Is there mandatory recycling in schools now? I think that would be a great place to start. Let's teach our kids now so that when they get older they'll teach theirs.

Jones: Yes, you're right. Building a foundation with our children is all important. That's why Mayor Hannemann has put on the Discover Recycling fairs the past couple of years. There'll be another in September.

The mayor also had one of his community meetings on recycling with high schoolers, and I must say he was very impressed with their grasp of the need to reduce and recycle waste. He also appointed several students to his Solid Waste Advisory Committee. They are currently reviewing the city's master plan for waste management. Mandatory recycling for schools should be determined by the state and the DOE, but the interest levels run high in schools, and they've been great partners in our community recycling white bin program.