A deal has been reached between the city and Hawaiian Waste Systems allowing the company to ship municipal waste to the Mainland for disposal.

Hawaiian Waste Disposal was the low bidder when the Hannemann administration asked for proposals a year ago. But city finance officials said they could not accept the bid because it had failed to meet all the conditions of the bidding process.
Hawaiian Waste Disposal filed an appeal with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. A hearings officer asked the two sides to try to settle the matter.
A joint press release issued this afternoon said:
"The City and County of Honolulu and Hawaiian Waste Systems, LLC announced today that they have reached a settlement of the procurement appeal pending before the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs regarding the interim shipping of solid waste. The settlement, which was approved in an order by the DCCA Hearings Officer, will allow the City to award the interim shipping contract to Hawaiian Waste Systems so that the company can commence its planned trash shipping operation. Under the terms of the contract, 100,000 tons per year of municipal solid waste as determined by the City that would otherwise go to the City’s Waimanalo Gulch Landfill will instead be shipped to a landfill in the state of Washington. The waste shipping contract is for an interim program to divert waste until the City’s HPOWER plant is expanded.
“I’m pleased we’ve been able to resolve this issue, because interim shipping as called for in this contract has been an option the City has wanted to pursue,” said Mayor Mufi Hannemann. “Under the contract, the City will maintain flow control of its municipal solid waste. The City had to make sure that we did this right, and our concerns about maintaining the integrity of the procurement process have been addressed.”
“We’re glad we’ve been able to work out our differences with the City,” said James Hodge, CEO of Hawaiian Waste Systems. “We believe that the interim shipping of waste will be an important tool for the City’s waste management efforts, and we look forward to working closely with the City to meet its municipal solid waste management goals.”