October 2000

Whether or not you attended the last Tour de Trash, this year's event is sure to have something for you and everyone interested in starting or fine-tuning your company's recycling program. We welcome new attendees to explore their recycling options and meet the Partnership for the Environment peer consultants. Returning attendees can experience a different tour that they may have missed last year.  Just like in 1999, the Tour de Trash is an "open house" of the Partnership's model recycling programs. Attendees will learn about recycling and waste management from a full day of onsite visits. They can also meet the company managers who designed and maintain these successful programs. Tour sites include an array of businesses that recycle or process recycled materials, ranging from hotels and restaurants, to military bases and construction sites, to the H-POWER waste-to-energy plant. We invite you to take advantage of this valuable opportunity. Join us at Tour de Trash 2000.

—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, a coalition of businesses coordinated by the City & County of Honolulu, offers resources, guides, technical assistance and peer consulting and publicly recognizes businesses for their efforts.

The Partnership for the Environment is one of the most effective public-private partnerships in Hawaii - business and government working together to reduce waste. Hawaii's environment is precious to all of us, and the members of the Partnership have demonstrated year after year their commitment to reduce waste, increase recycling and help keep Hawaii paradise. The value of the Partnership is the partners themselves -  local business leaders willing to offer their time and expertise to help other island businesses through the challenges of setting up recycling programs.

For more information and to become a partner, call the City's Recycling Office at (808) 527-5335.


Presenting Tour de Trash 2000

Get up-close and personal with Hawaii's business recyclers as they open their doors to the public at Tour de Trash 2000.  The Partnership for the Environment, made up of businesses just like yours who have developed successful recycling programs, presents this second annual event to share tips and strategies for efficient and money-saving recycling programs. It all takes place on America Recycles Day, Wednesday, Nov. 15.

This year, tour sites will include hotels, restaurants, military facilities, construction sites, composting sites, H-POWER waste-to-energy, and recycling material processors.

The tours will begin at the Hawaii Convention Center, which has a state-of-the-art recycling program of its own. Attendees will return to the convention center upon completion of their tours for the annual Pau Hana to enjoy pupus and drinks, made-in-Hawaii recycled artwork and live music.

They may also choose to take a short tour of the convention center's recycling program.

The Tours

Tour de Trash 2000 will feature more of what made last year's event such as success. Attendees can choose from four tours:

 

1.  Multi-Industry

A diversified tour for those with varied interests in recycling products and operations - including a comprehensive tour of the Hawaii Convention Center's recycling program.

2.  Hotel and Restaurant

Back-of-the-house recycling tours of some of the most notable hotels and restaurants on the island.

3.  Construction and Demolition

Targeting construction, engineering and design professionals, but open to all who are interested in seeing a variety of recycling operations and products related to building, construction and demolition.

4.  Recycling and Waste Processors

Where does stuff go after you've tossed it in the trash, deposited it in the recycling bin or flushed it down the toilet?  Find out on this tour.

Cost for Tour de Trash 2000, including the Pau Hana, is $40 per person.  Attendees will receive complimentary recycled gift items, including the Tour de Trash 2000 T-shirt. Call (808) 527-5335 for more information. Deadline to register is Friday, Nov. 3.

Here is a look at last year's tours

At the Pepsi facility in Halawa Valley, Harry Harris showed visitors how Pepsi crushes aluminum cans into 100-pound cubes for recycling. Pepsi's parking lot is the site for Hawaii's first glasphalt paving project.  Employees recycle office paper, cardboard, glass and aluminum, and the company utilizes reusable plastic trays for its one- and two-liter bottles.

Wolf Levine, manager of the Hard Rock Cafe, showed visitors how the restaurant replaced dumpsters with a comprehensive recycling center. After recycling all the food waste, glass and cardboard, there's not much garbage left for disposal.

The tour trekked up two flights of stairs into the control room of the H-POWER waste-to-energy plant. Each year more than 600,000 tons of waste material flows through this facility, reducing the volume of waste going to landfill by 90 percent and producing 7 percent of Oahu's electricity.

H-POWER extracts virtually 100 percent of the metals for recycling and the ash reutilization project has moved forward to a pilot phase. A test section of the facility's road was paved with 5 percent ash in the asphalt mix and is being monitored for structural performance and environmental effects.

At Hawaii Metal Recycling in Campbell Industrial Park, Jim Banigan, the guy in the cowboy hard hat, explained the mountains of metal being processed behind him. HMR has increased its metal recycling from 40,000 tons in 1991 to more than 100,000 tons today.  Every 10,000 tons of scrap metal recycled by HMR saves more than 2 million cubic feet of landfill space.

Letter From the Editor

Nov. 15 is not just America Recycles Day, it’s the day of Tour de Trash 2000 — the ideal opportunity for Hawaii businesses to see recycling at its best. Learn about recycling while observing various companies throughout Oahu who make recycling a business priority. 

Hawaii businesses continue to be the driving force behind successful recycling in our beautiful island home. And with the support of business leaders, the City and County of Honolulu was able to develop and implement successful business recycling laws.  

Almost every large business is affected by the City’s recycling requirements. Bars and restaurants are required to recycle glass; office buildings are required to recycle paper; and businesses that generate large amounts of food waste, including hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, manufacturers and hospitals, are required to recycle food waste. Other businesses are affected indirectly by bans and restrictions of materials at City disposal sites. 

It’s not a question of whether or not to recycle.  Many businesses are required to do so by law.  For example:

     Bars and restaurants serving alcoholic beverages are required to recycle glass containers.

 

     Office buildings with 20,000 square feet or more of office space are required to recycle office paper, newspaper and cardboard.

 

     Hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, food courts, food manufacturers/processors and hospitals meeting specific size criteria defined by ordinance are required to recycle food waste.

 

     Green waste (yard trimmings) from commercial and government generators is RESTRICTED from disposal. Commercial and government trucks are limited   to a maximum of 10 percent green waste per load. Local composting facilities accept this material for a fee and process it into soil amendment products. Generators are also encouraged to consider small-scale, do-it-yourself mulching and composting.

 

     Cardboard from commercial and government generators is RESTRICTED from disposal. Commercial and government trucks are limited to a maximum of 10 percent green waste per load. Local paper recyclers pay for cardboard.

 

     Tires, auto batteries, white goods and scrap metals are BANNED from all City disposal sites. State law requires dealers to take your old tires and recycle them. City-collected residential tires are delivered to a recycler.

 

The concern now is how to set up intelligent recycling systems that will indeed save money for businesses. It is the mission of the Partnership for the Environment to help companies do just that with a growing coalition of peer consultants that are willing to share their expertise.

 

You can meet them all at Tour de Trash 2000. We’re not just talking trash, we’re talking about your bottom line.

 

--Suzanne Jones