A troublesome scale that weighs incoming loads of trash at the city's Waimanalo Gulch landfill has been fully repaired, recalibrated and certified, said Waste Management Inc., which runs the site.

Meanwhile, a City Council panel yesterday requested an accounting of fees collected from trash haulers over several months. Significant fluctuations could help determine if the city lost revenue when the scale was malfunctioning.

The city charges a "tipping fee" of $92 per ton of trash and debris dumped at the landfill, but the weight of some loads was estimated because of the scale's problems.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann has ordered that a new scale be installed as soon as possible, which could take up to three months and cost $150,000.

In a related matter, city environmental services director Eric Takamura said a long-awaited residential curbside recycling program should begin serving 20,000 homes by Oct. 1. In part, the recycling program is designed to divert material from the landfill.

But officials have still not decided whether the program will be launched in Hawai'i Kai, Mililani or Kailua.

That will depend largely on negotiations with union officials over collection routes, and on an evaluation of city equipment baseyard capabilities, Takamura said.

A consultant working on the plan said that even if the project is highly successful and expanded islandwide, it would likely increase O'ahu's recycling rate by only about 2 percent.

The island now produces 1.76 million tons of trash a year, and 35 percent of that is already recycled into other materials, consultant Karen Luken said.

About 22 percent is burned in the H-Power garbage-to-energy plant, and 11 percent more could be burned if the city expands such capabilities, she said.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.