July 2000

Island communities face a difficult challenge in recycling - the reliance on markets in distant locations. The City continues to look for opportunities to support on-island processing of recyclable materials as a means of locally stabilizing our recycling programs and creating new businesses and jobs. Crushed glass in asphalt -- glasphalt -- is now a standard specification for City roads. Aloha Plastic's recycled plastic lumber product is preferred over wood at the Honolulu Zoo. Used tires, now banned from landfill, are shredded by a local company, Unitek, and burned as a supplement to coal to generate power. Composting, by far, offers the greatest opportunities for closing the loop locally. Not only can we significantly reduce waste, but by using compost and mulch products, we can further nourish and green our lush island home. As you read this issue of WasteLine, I think you will be pleased with the achievements thus far and challenged by the work ahead. Please give thought to how you or your company could contribute to this effort. What we prove successful here in Hawaii could have far-reaching benefits, providing a model for other Pacific Islands that currently face the challenges of managing increasing volumes of waste.

Mayor Jeremy Harris

About the Partnership
Local laws now require businesses to recycle, but how do you set up intelligent recycling systems that will save your company money? The Partnership for the Environment offers resources, guides, technical assistance, a speakers bureau and a growing coalition of business leaders willing to share their expertise to assist other businesses. The Partnership is coordinated by the City & County of Honolulu Recycling Office. For more information and to become a partner, call 527-5335 or go to our new web site at www.opala.org.


Yard Waste...Sludge...Elephant Droppings Compost Happens on Oahu

The first batch of locally produced biosolids compost is ready for use. If you're a gardener or landscaper, you may already be using similar products imported from California. The Barbers Point Navy product is home-made ... and home-grown, too.

Composting organic material has the greatest potential for reducing Oahu's waste and increasing recycling rates. The volume is big, the economics make sense and the materials can be processed and used here on our island. Yard waste constitutes the single largest volume of waste material generated on Oahu, amounting to more than 200,000 tons per year. Sewage sludge, most of which still goes to landfill, accounts for more than 40,000 tons annually. When composted, both of these materials provide nutrient-rich soil amendment products for gardening, landscaping and agriculture, and island-wide disposal could be reduced by a full 15%.

The challenge at hand is to:
1. set up collection systems to divert large volumes of yard waste from disposal to composting and mulching operations,
2. establish a new co-composting facility on Oahu to process the sewage sludge and
3. further develop the markets for mulch and compost.

The City has moved forward with a new curbside yard waste collection program, which now provides service to more than 100,000 homes on Oahu. If you're in a neighborhood with automated refuse collection, you may have noticed a new sticker placed on your cart indicating your twice-per-month yard waste collection days.

Yard waste generated by the commercial sector and government agencies has been restricted from disposal since 1994. Currently, refuse trucks delivering waste material to H-POWER or the landfill should contain no more than 10% yard waste.

The City and County of Honolulu is in the process of selecting the best technology for a new co-composting facility to process yard waste and sewage sludge, or "biosolids."

Cherell Gabriel waits for the grass to grow at the new Waipio soccer park. The City used 5,000 cubic yards of compost and 5,000 cubic yards of shredded, crumbed tires to develop the athletic fields of the new soccer complex.

Proposals were submitted some months ago, and the City expects the new facility to be operational in one to two years. In the meantime, the City is engaged in a cooperative effort with the Navy at Barbers Point to compost biosolids and yard waste, which has already produced an end product ready for use. A team of specialists from the University of Hawaii will test for product safety and nutrient value and begin setting up demonstration projects over the next few months. Free compost product will be provided for use in the demonstration projects. If you would like to participate, contact the City's Recycling Office at 527-5335.

In the end, the success of composting is contingent upon the consumer - you and me. All of these collection and processing efforts make sense only when the end product is valued and used. Consumer indications thus far are positive. Hawaiian Earth Products' Menehune line of compost and mulch products is being successfully marketed in local garden shops. Recently, the City's two new sports complexes temporarily depleted the stocks of both island composters - Hawaiian Earth Products and Kalaheo Green Waste Recycling Facility - with demands for compost to develop the athletic fields. Free mulch sites around the island require regular replenishing. Even the Honolulu Zoo has produced and packaged a new compost product - "Honolulu Zoo Poo" - which they tout as "made with much aloha by the Honolulu Zoo crew."  Mari and Vaigai, the resident elephants, are the biggest contributors to this nutrient-rich product, which is a blend of yard waste and animal manure (herbivore only). You can find Zoo Poo on sale in the Zootique when supplies are available.

 

The Honolulu Zoo turned a problem into a valuable product, blending their yard waste with animal manure to create a nutrient-rich gardening product. ÒHonolulu Zoo PooÓ is sold to members of the Honolulu Zoological Society and is available in the Zootique.

Neighborhoods with automated refuse collection also have twice-per-month curbside yard waste collection service. With this new service, the City expects to increase residential yard waste recovery from 10,000 tons to 50,000 tons annually over the next two years.

JOIN US at the RECYCLED PRODUCTS STORE Made in Hawaii Festival August 18, 19, 20 at the Blaisdell Center Come see (and buy) recycled products, arts and crafts made locally by Hawaii businesses and artisans.