Only five of the 290 city parks have recycling bins and the city still is assessing what programs it has in place at golf courses, county buildings and other public facilities.

Hanauma Bay, Hawai'i Kai skate park, Foster Botanical Gardens, Wahiawa Park and Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens are the only city parks with designated receptacles for collecting bottles, cans and paper.

City officials said recyclable materials discarded in other parks are recovered by scavengers and others willing to dig through trash to recycle.

"We have what we consider passive recycling. We know people are going through the trash and putting recyclables into the stream," said Lester Chang, director of the city Department of Parks and Recreation. "We are now looking at a more formal program. Recycling is a very important thing we all have to do but we have to look at our resources."

The City Council Planning and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday deferred action on two bills mandating recycling programs in all city parks and buildings.

Eric Takamura, city environmental services director, said the city needs an additional 30 days to come up with a better assessment of current recycling activities.

"You can get by with a cheaper container, but other cities had problems with vandalism," Takamura said.

City officials are considering options such as putting in special recycling bins — ranging in price from $300 to $600 — and officials have spoken with recycling coordinators from New York City to consider other options.

New bins could take eight weeks to arrive, officials said Tuesday.

"I hope that the deferral of the bill isn't going to be taken as a deferral to get this thing going," said council Chairwoman Barbara Marshall. "There are bins on island. If we have to order special pretty bins and wait eight weeks for them to come in, then decide where to put them we are going to be four months down the line and nothing will have gotten done."

The city conducts curbside recycling in two O'ahu neighborhoods and Mayor Mufi Hannemann has announced plans to expand into two more.

In November, the city began collecting mixed recyclable and green waste from 12,000 households in Mililani and 8,000 households in Hawai'i Kai. On Jan. 7 the city began collecting trash only once a week in those communities.

Mililani residents have the option to pay a $30 quarterly fee for a second weekly trash pickup.

About 400 households in Mililani have paid for a second day of trash collection a week for the first quarter of the year, city officials have said.

An additional 78 have paid for second-day trash pickup for the second quarter.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.