Solid Waste Management
The island of O‘ahu generates about 1.5 million tons of waste annually from residential, commercial, and industrial sources. Waste management in Hawai‘i faces significant challenges. The economy lacks diversity and market access, and management options are severely limited by the shortage and expense of available land. Burying wastes in island landfills is not a sustainable strategy for the long term. In addition, because of the obstacles to accessing national and international markets, due primarily to Hawai‘i's isolation, it is essential to develop local reuse and recycle options for discarded materials (State of Hawaii Department of Health 2000).
State Management Responsibilities. The State of Hawai‘i Department of Heath, Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch (SHWB) is responsible for the management of solid waste, hazardous waste, and the regulation of underground storage tanks. Their mission is to protect Hawai‘i's lands from pollutants that endanger people and the environment, and to rehabilitate contaminated lands. The SHWB promotes pollution prevention and waste minimization activities, the development of proactive partnerships with both generators and the regulated community, and prevents releases or threats of releases of petroleum, hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants into the environment through enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.
The scope of SWHB solid waste management activities consists of landfills, incinerators, transfer stations, recycling and composting facilities, pollution prevention, and illegal dumping. The SWHB also oversees used oil transport and recycling, lead acid batteries, automotive scrap and salvage, and medical waste management. Specific duties under these areas include permitting, inspections, complaint response, enforcement, training, policy development, and responding to public requests.
PVT Landfill accepts construction and demolition waste.
Source: CZM HawaiLandfills. The PVT Land Company owns and operates the PVT Landfill located approximately one quarter mile up Lualualei Valley Road in Lualualei Valley. The landfill is a licensed construction and demolition material solid waste landfill. The landfill also accepts asbestos-containing material and petroleum contaminated soils suitable for bioremediation (PVT Land Company Ltd. 2004). The landfill is regulated by the SHWB.
Waimanalo Gulch Landfill, although not located within the Wai‘anae Moku, is located nearby along the ridge of Kahe Point just east of Nānākuli Valley. The 78.9 acre landfill is owned by the City and County of Honolulu and operated by Waste Management of Hawai‘i, Inc. The landfill accepts municipal solid waste from county collection routes and transfer stations, private collection companies, residential and commercial haulers, and ash from nearby H-Power. The landfill is regulated by the SWHB and is currently scheduled to close in 2008. Discussions are currently underway to identify a new location to accept municipal solid waste on O‘ahu.
Illegal Dumping. As environmental protection requirements have become more strict, the costs to operate waste management facilities have also increased. This increase in costs has also led to more illegal dumping acts throughout the island.
In addition to the environmental damage, illegal dumping cheats permitted disposal facilities, because illegal dumpers avoid payment of the necessary site improvements required by state law to operate a proper landfill.
What You Can Do
The prevention of illegal dumping requires government, landowners, construction industry and concerned people to continue to work with each other.
Tips for landowners: Landowners, especially those of large or vacant lots, should maintain and control unwanted entry into their property, to the best extent possible (for example signs, fencing, parking stops, barriers).
Tips for contractors who supervise projects: Evaluate proposals with low bids carefully. Look for a line-item estimate on "waste disposal costs" and compare that with the volume of waste that the bidder expects to remove. Make haulers responsible to deliver the wastes they generate at the project to permitted solid waste disposal or recycling facilities. Require them to submit receipts to prove that wastes were properly delivered. When in doubt, contact the Office of Solid Waste Management to obtain a current printout of permitted disposal or recycling facilities. Phone: (808)586-4240.
Everyone: Report any suspected illegal dumping activity to the Office of Solid Waste Management at (808)586-4240. Please provide the Office of Solid Waste Management with specific information such as dates, times, names on trucks, license plate numbers, location of dumping activity, type of material being disposed, the estimated quantity, and especially any snapshots of illegal activities.
City and County of Honolulu, Recycling Programs
Recycling bins at Aloha ‘Āina.
Source: CZM Hawai‘iThe city has built an islandwide collection and waste management system intended to maximize the use of waste-to-energy (H-POWER), recycling, and composting in order to reduce the amount of waste requiring landfill. The City's goal is to eliminate our reliance on landfills by 2008 by further increasing recycling efforts, expanding H-POWER, and utilizing emerging waste technologies (City and County of Honolulu 2004).
Various types of collection services are provided to the public that channel waste materials to their appropriate end. Community recycling bins transport bottles, jars, cans, and paper to recycling facilities. Residential refuse collection trucks deliver garbage to H-POWER. Curbside collection of yard waste goes to mulching and composting facilities. Curbside collection of mixed recyclables will be added to the city's services in select pilot areas in 2004.
Opala.org
Opala.org (‘ōpala means garbage in Hawaiian) is the Web site of the City and County of Honolulu's Refuse Division, providing you with information and guidelines for taking care of garbage. At the Web site is a breakdown of O‘ahu's waste by material, O‘ahu's annual recycling rates from 1988 through 2002, and an outline of the City's future plans. The Web site also includes quick instructions on how to recycle and properly dispose of common items.
H-POWER
H-POWER began operation in 1990 and converts more than 2,000 tons of waste per day into electricity to power more than 60,000 homes. H-POWER is the cornerstone of Honolulu's integrated waste management system. H-POWER produces seven percent of O‘ahu's electricity and reduces the volume of refuse going to landfill by 90 percent. On O‘ahu, waste-to-energy works in partnership with recycling efforts to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills significantly.
In addition to reducing the volume of waste entering the plant by 90 percent through incineration, H-POWER is actively engaged in recycling. Virtually 100 percent of the ferrous and nonferrous metal is recovered for recycling, and a program for recycling the ash is currently being finalized. The facility's pre-processing system uses magnets to pull metals from the waste stream and eddy current separators extract non-ferrous metals from the ash, diverting approximately 18,000 tons of ferrous metals (tin cans) and 2,500 tons of non-ferrous metals (aluminum cans) to recycling annually.
References Cited
City and County of Honolulu. 2004. Honolulu Recycling and Waste Disposal. http://www.opala.org
PVT Land Company Ltd. 2004. Landfill Home Page. http://www.pvtland.com
State of Hawaii Department of Health. 2000. Hawaii 2000 Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management. Office of Solid Waste Management.
